30 Nov 2015

APPL In, T Out & The Remains of the Day

In March of this year, Apple Inc. was added to the elite, 30-member Dow Jones Industrial Index, and AT&T was unceremoniously removed.

In their press release, S&P Dow Jones Indices, said “The timing of Apple’s addition to the DJIA hinged on two stock splits: Apple’s 7:1 last June and Visa’s 4:1 on March 19th this year.”

Because the Dow is a price weighted index, the March 2015 Visa split underweighted the information technology sector, while Apple’s earlier split will enabled it to join the Dow index without a disproportionate effect. read more

23 Nov 2015

Pfizer: Representation Without Taxation

Inversion sure is the right word for the Allergan/Pfizer deal.  Because what got the colonists lathered up enough to fight a war against the one global super power at the time was taxation without representation.

Somehow that idea got turned on its head, and now one of the largest drug companies in America wants the representation the United States has to offer without the commensurate taxation (all this, mind you, from a voter registered as Republican).

From a shareholder perspective, it’s easy to connect the dots.  Lower taxes means higher earnings, and higher earnings means a higher stock price, and presto, shareholder value has been increased.  What else would anyone expect the senior leadership and board to do? read more

16 Nov 2015

Where The Rubber Hits The Road: Investor Presentations

Among investors, there’s a premium placed on the selling and presentation skills of the founder or CEO. Investors in private companies know their payday will only occur if the CEO or founder can sell the company or take it public. Investors in public companies want to know the CEO can continuously attract new investors that will offer them the liquidity they need to get out.

This is why you hear investors say things like: “I’d rather invest in a really good company where the founder/CEO ‘gets it’ than a great company run by a physicist.” And so, it this one regard, style actually does finally win one over substance. read more

12 Nov 2015

American Funds: Call Me

Like a lot of people in my business, I have Bloomberg TV and CNBC on all day in my office. I like the ads almost as much as I like the stories.

The ads interest me because I can see, or think I can see, the marketing strategy behind it.

At the moment, American Funds, a prolific advertiser, is running and ad that makes my Spidey sense tingle.

The tingling comes from the voice over which says something like this proven, unique approach has resulted in a superior long term track record.

Could it? My experience on the marketing end of financial services is that even facts which are true can’t be said for fear of blowback. And here’s a fact American Funds is broadcasting to the world that would be very difficult to be true in absolute terms. read more

6 Nov 2015

Investor Relations and Public Relations: Uneasy Bedfellows

The words investor and public relations roll off the tongue with such ease that it seems yet another confirmation the disciplines share a cozy symbiosis.

They don’t.

The notion that increased media exposure leads to increased investment rings false for issuers primarily focused on gaining institutional investors.

The reason for this is simple.  For equities, buy (and sell) decisions are primarily driven by earnings and earnings growth.  And with instantaneous access to new and consistently issued financial information every 90 days, spotting a meaningful, or at the very least an interesting change in earnings or earnings growth is easy.  In some cases, it’s just a matter of managing alerts. read more

6 Nov 2015

Your Investor Relations Media Plan Made Easy

If you are a public company and trying to decide what media you should be focusing on, then the answer is actually very simple: Dow Jones, Reuters and Bloomberg.

That’s it.

Other earned media exposure, wherever, is not useless in support of an investor relations program, but it represents a very inefficient way to make progress.

This simple strategy, on the other hand, owes its existence to the denominator problem, which is this: the amount of time investors have to consume messages is fixed while the amount of information, and now content, competing for their attention i.e. the denominator — is growing exponentially.

Numerically, it’s not a happy quotient.

Therefore, to grab the attention of investors, it’s best to focus on media outlets that are integrated, literally wired, into their workflow. Dow Jones, Reuters, and Bloomberg all have trading and portfolio management news solutions, and they sell them aggressively all over the world.

By focusing on these three media outlets only, you can deliver exposure to your prospects through a medium that he or she stares at for eight to 10 hours a day.

Hey, who doesn’t love a broadcast interview? But if you don’t have the time (and really, you shouldn’t), the best, most comprehensive alternative strategy is, thankfully a straightforward one.

Read more: http://www.nasdaq.com/article/your-investor-relations-media-plan-made-easy-cm538874#ixzz3qiL3Ez39

6 Nov 2015

Your Investor Relations Media Plan Made Easy

If you are a public company and trying to decide what media you should be focusing on, then the answer is actually very simple: Dow Jones, Reuters and Bloomberg.

That’s it.

Other earned media exposure, wherever, is not useless in support of an investor relations program, but it represents a very inefficient way to make progress.

This simple strategy, on the other hand, owes its existence to the denominator problem, which is this: the amount of time investors have to consume messages is fixed while the amount of information, and now content, competing for their attention i.e. the denominator — is growing exponentially.

Numerically, it’s not a happy quotient.

Therefore, to grab the attention of investors, it’s best to focus on media outlets that are integrated, literally wired, into their workflow. Dow Jones, Reuters, and Bloomberg all have trading and portfolio management news solutions, and they sell them aggressively all over the world.

By focusing on these three media outlets only, you can deliver exposure to your prospects through a medium that he or she stares at for eight to 10 hours a day.

Hey, who doesn’t love a broadcast interview? But if you don’t have the time (and really, you shouldn’t), the best, most comprehensive alternative strategy is, thankfully a straightforward one.

Read more: http://www.nasdaq.com/article/your-investor-relations-media-plan-made-easy-cm538874#ixzz3qiGwCtyG

2 Nov 2015

CEOs Who Made Me Scratch My Head

In October, two CEOs made me scratch my head.  One in a questioning fashion, the other in an admiring fashion.

I admired Frank Bisignano CEO of First Data Corporation (FDC) for striding onto CNBC’s stage perched atop the New York Stock Exchange moments after his company went public.

OMG, every lawyer in the deal was probably having a coronary.

Silence and not conditioning the market after a public offering is a sacrosanct principal of securities law. At least, that’s how it’s been explained to me by legions of counsel over the years.  There is a fear that talking about any subject outside of what the prospectus says might be deemed as conditioning the market.  Then there’s a fear that the simple act of communicating, even if it’s what’s said is in the prospectus, might be deemed as conditioning the market. read more