The Westwicke Blog is designed to deliver information and insights into the ever-changing world of healthcare communications.
When your company issues a press release, it shouldn’t catch anyone in your company by surprise. If it does, your leaders won’t be able to properly prepare for incoming analyst questions — and that could be disastrous. That’s why it’s essential to have an established internal process for issuing public information. If you don’t have a process — or find that it often breaks down and becomes ineffective — here are five strategies to implement.
The relationships you build with investors are crucial to your overall business strategy. But as you develop a strong investor relations (IR) plan, consider the following core elements that will help you build a credible reputation with the right audience. From fine-tuning your messaging to nurturing shareholder relationships to selecting the right partner, the investments you make now, will pay off over the long-term.
“Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.”
— Thomas Jefferson
Just as honesty fuels wisdom on life’s great matters, candid thoughts from outsiders can prove invaluable for corporate executives seeking to learn how key market participants view their company. A perception study can play a vital role in gathering these opinions.
At Westwicke, an ICR Company, we know what constitutes investor relations (IR) best practices for one important reason: as former investors, bankers, analysts, and salespeople, we have the experience to understand information flow dynamics on Wall Street and the proven strategies. We have discussed specific best practices of a good IR strategy at length – sometimes in broad strokes and other times in greater detail. Every once in a while, however, it is important to pick your head up out of the trees and view the forest to get a sense of the prevailing buy-side perspective on IR and confirm that your intuition is in fact correct. I recently came across a global buy-side survey conducted by Rivel Research Group that underscores our qualitative expertise on IR strategy with quantitative measures. It is important for management teams of publicly traded companies to consider these buy-side perspectives as they approach IR.
To some companies, the annual letter to shareholders is an art. Warren Buffet, for example, may write a 30-page letter that addresses a range of topics — some that have little relevance to the letter’s intended audience. However, as you prepare to release your annual letter to shareholders, the best approach for most companies is to keep it clear and concise. This letter is an important piece of communication with your investors, and it should clearly lay out your vision, goals, and milestones achieved. Here are six tips to make your letter as effective as possible.
To execute a successful non-deal road show, you must put in the planning and work. It’s critical to pinpoint the right city and sponsoring analyst to make the most of your trip. However, that work and coordination is well worth it. By getting on the road and telling your story to the Street, you’ll experience many benefits. Here are what we consider the top 10 benefits of non-deal road shows.
As the year comes to a close, it’s time for management teams to start thinking about their 2019 investor relations strategies. How can you learn from your efforts in 2018 — and what needs to change for the year ahead? Should you shift the focus of your activities or hold steady on the path toward the goals you outlined for the past year?
Here, our team of IR experts at Westwicke provide their best advice for creating a top-notch investor relations plan that aligns with your company’s goals and priorities for the upcoming year.
The J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference provides an insightful beginning to the year. Beyond offering an opportunity to meet with analysts, investors, and other professionals in the healthcare industry, it illuminates trends that you’re likely to see throughout the upcoming year.
As you look forward to the 2019 event in January, start thinking about the information you can glean from the sessions you’ll attend, meetings you’ll facilitate, and announcements you’ll hear over the course of the conference.
Some management teams assume — incorrectly — that they can play it safe by withholding financial guidance, believing they can’t miss estimates they don’t provide. To the contrary, companies may inadvertently limit their Street credibility by opting out of earnings forecasts and, at the same time, miss an opportunity to manage investor expectations.
Investors judge financial results against analysts’ consensus estimates even if a company doesn’t provide projection, so it makes sense for leadership to set expectations themselves and provide some guardrails. Perhaps more importantly, formal guidance signals management’s confidence in the company’s growth and stability.
Wall Street analysts can play a key role in a company’s investor relations plan, so executives should approach these relationships carefully. Properly handled analyst relationships can become a significant asset to a company, while missteps may create unnecessary problems — especially considering that analysts may share anything you say with the public markets.
