Rivel hosted its 5th semiannual Intelligence Council Conference in San Francisco earlier this month, attracting nearly 100 senior-level investor relations professionals seeking the most up-to-date research on best practices in IR. “Our first event outside of New York City far surpassed our expectations, and really showed us that IROs will travel long distances to get the latest insight on buy-side needs and current IR trends,” said Rivel President Brian Rivel (pictured below).
Late last month, the US Federal Reserve announced it would launch “Operation Twist” in which it would implement a policy of selling $400 billion in short-term Treasuries in exchange for the same amount of longer-term bonds. Plans were to begin the operation this month and complete the program in June 2012. The market reacted with the biggest two-day loss in the Dow since August 2008 – not exactly a ringing endorsement for the ‘60s era policy and a signal the Fed is trying just about anything to get the economy going again. Read Full Article
From the Field – Is the US Headed for a Double Dip?
Posted on : 22-09-2011 | By : Chris Wachtelhausen
On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve said in a statement that there are “significant downside risks to the economic outlook [of the U.S.], including strains in global financial markets.” While the stock markets reacted with steep losses, investors disagree and do not anticipate the U.S. economy will suffer a double-dip recession in the coming months. Read Full Article
Now that an agreement has been reached to raise the debt ceiling and seemingly bring back the US economy from the brink of collapse, are you more optimistic that the economy will get back on track over the next six months? If you said yes and you so happen to be an institutional investor, you’d probably be in the minority. Read Full Article
Beginning today, we are providing readers of this blog a glimpse into research that is so current, it’ll make your head spin. OK, so maybe it’s not that transformative, but it does offer a look at real-time data from a study that is still ongoing, which we think is pretty cool. So check back often for the next nugget of data from the field. Read Full Article
Rivel Research Group took its talents to New York City last week for its 4th Intelligence Council conference, a star-studded event held at the New York Palace (a former property of the infamous Leona Helmsley). Well, there wasn’t an entourage of Hollywood celebrities in attendance, but by star-studded we mean an all-star roster of senior-level IROs from some of the largest companies in the world all there to discuss what else … investor relations! Read Full Article
Rivel Research Group’s most recent investigation into compensation trends in the investor relations field showed four dominating drivers of an investor relations officer’s salary:
- Region (companies in the Northeast pay the most)
- Market cap (the larger cap size, the greater the salary)
- Title (VPs versus Directors – Veeps win)
- Educational background (an MBA does make a difference)
“I give IR a very high priority. Over time, it can make a huge difference in our market cap.”
- Small-cap CFO
How often do you check your company’s stock price – weekly, daily or every five minutes? Do you have a browser open on your computer dedicated specifically to stock quotes? Can you recite the 52-week high and low to the nearest cent? There is no shame in being a well-informed employee and all matters of company valuation are no doubt an integral part of investor relations. But would it surprise you to know that while you glance at the trading activity on that real-time stock chart, you – as a corporate communicator – play a role in determining the bids and asks that tick up or down on a given day? Read Full Article
In the wake of the financial collapse of 2008 and 2009, it’s not surprising that management credibility was further solidified as an extremely important factor when investment professionals evaluate companies. If CEOs do what they say they are going to do, then a certain level of trust is established. Plus, a management team with a long track record of meeting its publicly stated goals ensures any missteps in the future will be met with only short-term volatility, if any at all.
However, in the case of credibility perceptions dominate – one investor may trust management explicitly while a sell-side analyst doesn’t believe a word the CEO says. While such a dichotomy may seem extremely rare and far-fetched, we can tell you from reading thousands of verbatim transcripts that it happens more often than one would expect. Credibility is such an intangible characteristic that often carries a “what have you done for me lately” attitude for ever-fickle Wall Street folks. But here’s the key question for IR professionals – How credible are you? Maybe less than you think. Read Full Article
Ever throw a party and right before people are scheduled to arrive, a fear that nobody will show up suddenly comes over you? Ok, maybe just us Nervous Nellies, but there’s a point. What if you threw a party for investors and nobody showed up? You’d be mortified, no doubt, and management would probably have some colorful words with you. But we’re here to put any such fears to rest – folks on Wall Street love parties, especially with free food. Everyone knows that. Read Full Article