Senior management teams are very thoughtful about the financial guidance they provide the Street. Internal and external factors are considered and result in ranges that reflect the management team’s best estimates at the time they are provided. Given the amount of brainpower that goes into crafting the guidance, management teams often become frustrated when their analysts go “rogue” by publishing estimates outside of the guidance range. As a former analyst, I can tell you this happens for a variety of reasons.
Posted on September 27th, 2013. Posted by ICR Westwicke
Sell-side analysts hold big sway with the investment community, and can help your company’s potential to attract investors. To work in your favor, analysts must know the ins and outs of why your company or product represents the next best thing in the marketplace. They also need confidence in your company’s potential to make it to the next level.
While the reputation of sell-side analysts came under fire with conflict of interest stories this past decade, and new regulations helped level the playing field, analysts continue to play powerful roles in the marketplace, and companies are wise to nurture strong relationships. What’s it like in today’s market from the sell-side point of view? And how can you better your chances of making it on analysts’ coverage lists and receiving a coveted “Buy” rating? Continue Reading
Management teams and IR professionals tend to take stock rating downgrades personally. While a downgrade may sting on the day of, in the long run all stocks’ ratings are subject to fluctuations – both up and down. To get a better feel for how the buy-side reacts to ratings downgrades, we reached out to both buy-side analysts and portfolio managers to get some real-time feedback. The conclusion? In general, the buy-side really doesn’t care about the rating on a particular stock. The representatives we spoke to clearly are more interested in learning as much as possible about a company and are less interested in a stock’s label.
Following are ten direct quotes about this topic that speak to why analyst ratings really don’t matter:
“I don’t care about analyst ratings. I do my own research and try not to let the sell-side influence me.”
“I love analyst downgrades because it gives me an opportunity to buy the stock.”
“Most of the time I don’t even know what their ratings are, I just talk to the analysts that know the company the best.”
“I’ve done this for long enough to know that more than half of them are wrong on their ratings.”
“Sometimes ratings are based on momentum and not fundamentals. I invest in fundamentals.” Continue Reading
Analyst communications play a key role in a company’s success. Download our checklist, 5 Tips for Effective Analyst Communications, for tips to maintain effective analyst relationships.
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