Sharon Merrill Associates Investor Relations Investor Day

5 Tips for a Successful Investor Day

Hosting an investor day can be a powerful way to raise management visibility and credibility, highlight the depth of your management team, and clarify your company’s value proposition and growth strategy.  But planning a successful investor day is no small task. Here are five tips to help you along the way.

Sharon Merrill Associates Investor Relations Activism Defense

Keeping the Activists at Bay: Five Steps to an Effective Response Plan

The new reality is that no public company, no matter how highly regarded or well managed, is immune from activist attention. The number of activist campaigns waged against public companies increased in 2015 to 375 according to the research firm FactSet. Once an activist surfaces, every move a company makes can have a profound and cascading…

How Investor Relations Can Support the Buy Side’s Investment Process

By Dennis Walsh, Vice President “Buy-side analysts truly value a company with a responsive investor relations program led by an informed IRO,” shares John Barr, Co-Manager of the Needham Growth Fund (NEEGX) and Manager of the Needham Aggressive Growth Fund (NEAGX). Most strategic investor relations programs aim to increase institutional ownership with new long-term shareholders.…

Sell-Side Coverage – A Small Cap’s White Whale?

By Dennis Walsh, Vice President I recently was interviewed for an article for IR Magazine titled, “Sell-Side Analysts: The Many and the Few.” The article discussed how some companies manage a full roster of covering sell-siders, while others struggle to maintain or attract just a few. In today’s market, it seems more common that IROs…

REIT IR: This Investor Pool Isn’t Big Enough for the Two of Us

By Andrew Blazier, Senior Associate A good friend and colleague of mine used to describe the universe of real estate investment trusts – REITs – as an “us girls” industry. It was difficult to break in, but once you did, the REIT community was so small, and so interconnected, that working within the industry could…

Notes from a NIRI Annual Conference Attendee

By Dennis Walsh, Senior Consultant & Director of Social Media Last week, I attended the NIRI Annual Conference.  It was very educational and an incredible opportunity to meet and exchange ideas with many of the approximately 1,300 investor relations professionals from more than 20 countries that attended the event in Seattle. NIRI organized more than…

Form 13Fs – Things that Could Have Been Brought to My Attention Yesterday!

By Dennis Walsh, Senior Consultant & Director of Social Media It’s that time of the year again.  Four times a year, institutional investors that hold more than $100 million in assets under management are required to file a Form 13F with the SEC that lists the securities held in their portfolio and the number of…

The Age of Diminished Sell-Side Research

Sell-side research has undergone profound structural changes during the past decade with far-reaching implications affecting the quality of the research and how research is generated, sold and compensated. Decimalization, Regulation FD, unbundling of trading from research and the hedge fund “brain drain” have all negatively impacted sell-side profitability, product quality and small cap coverage in…

Getting Ready for the IPO: 10 Investor Relations “To Do” Items Before the Pricing

For months leading up to your S-1 filing, you probably have been singularly focused on creating that massive tome.  You have spent significantly more time with your lawyers and auditors than with your own family — and you cannot even begin to imagine a time when you won’t be spending every waking moment with your…