If you are the CEO or CFO of a public company part of your responsibilities is to report financial results. Most companies hold an earnings call on a quarterly basis, with management’s assessment of the performance and time for questions and answers from analysts and investors.
Beyond the quarterly calls, there are always several individual meetings with investors and potential investors. In essence, you are marketing your company to investment funds and wealthy investors.
Preparing you for the calls and these meetings is the responsibility of your head of investor relations. I had a good one at Cedar Fair, and she and her financial colleagues made sure I was always well prepared.
I looked forward to most of these meetings. Some of my favorites were those with long-term investors and family offices (wealthy families have teams to manage their investments, no surprise). I remember one of those offices had a motto, “Our job is not to make the family wealthy, it is to keep them wealthy.” At another family office, their investment in Cedar Fair was managed by two incredibly sharp guys. I appreciated that they were always well prepared and each conversation, including those where we disagreed, made me smarter.
My least favorite events were banker organized investor conferences where there would be several potential investors seated around a round table. These were usually one-hour sessions in a small conference room and inevitably at least two of the six analysts attending had no idea what our company did, they just needed to fill up their calendar at the conference.
When the conversations became too laborious and it became clear that none of these people were going to buy our stock, I used a technique some of you may want to consider – I texted myself an urgent message and abandoned my CFO and VP of investor relations. I’m not proud of it, but one time I misjudged the timing of my return to the room and had to wait out the last five minutes in the suite’s bathroom.
I don’t think the investor relations professionals get nearly the credit they deserve. They are often relatively anonymous outside of the financial professional’s circle. They are fact-based and great communicators. They deal with a wide variety of personalities, sometimes under stressful conditions (think disappointing earnings). Next to the CFO, they likely have the deepest understanding of the business model. They make their CEO’s and CFO’s more credible, and they insist, appropriately, on following all the SEC requirements.
Several months ago, I wrote a post that proposed a drinking game played whenever you listened to a public company’s quarterly earnings call. If you enjoy a good adult beverage game, track down that post, check out the rules and set a reminder for SIX Flags next earnings call on Nov. 6th at 10AM.
As the call comes to an end add one final toast to the head of investor relations. Cheers.
PS Edited and reposted due to a technical problem.
Manager - Retirement Plans at E. & J. Gallo Winery
9moI am so happy for you! They are lucky to have you!