How enthusiatic are investor relations people about answering analyst questions(I am at a boutique buy-side firm)? I contacted a few by email but haven’t heard back in two days. I am looking for some detailed financial info about some companies that is not easily available on public records and hence thought that contacting IR would be a good source. Do they care about responding to analysts from tiny no-name firms?
This is definitely a little different, but Vanguard’s investor relations people are absolutely FANTASTIC. They’re polite and helpful and are totally happy lending even small investors (greater than $50k, less than $100k) like me a helping hand. Try the phone. I’m sure these firms are inundated with email.
^ is that customer relations?
DarienHacker: No, I meant investor relations. Remember u answered my question yesterday about getting info on organic growth breakdown. I tried getting in touch with IR folks abt it. thanks for the response on that one 
You should go directly to CFO especially if you have a legit analyst gig (which it sounds like you do).
Right he means kkent is not addressing your question. I work at a big shop so we generally have great access to management teams. Not sure how it is for a boutique, but I would certainly say get on the phone. It’s much easier to ignore an email than someone who keeps calling.
IR people should be at your service. They’ve got nothing else to do. Going to the CFO is definitely the way to go, although if you’re small and they’re big this can be tough. Sometimes I’ll have to do a pre-screen meeting with an IR person before we get through to the C-suite.
agreed that bigger shops and bigger clients have better access to investor relations. but if you don’t hear from them, just try to be persistent about things…but you have nothing to lose either way
I’m in a boutique firm and has contacted IR directly quite a few time. Usually you call them, introduce yourself, and depending on AUM they will either give you the CFO or the VP of finance. Most of the time however, they’ll just take your name and phone number and give you an appointed time slot to do a conference call with director of IR, or if the company is smaller, directly to the CFO
agree with all the above posters that its hard if your shop is small. it also helps to know what you’re talking about… if you come across as being knowledgeable about the company and having done your homework they are more likely to give you time.
No, that IS investor relations. Customer relations is totally different. And it is addressing the question. My portfolio is big enough to require frequent investment related requests. Phone calls work.
kkent Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > No, that IS investor relations. Customer > relations is totally different. And it is > addressing the question. My portfolio is big > enough to require frequent investment related > requests. Phone calls work. what most people consider investor relations are people who own shares or potentially own shares in the company. what you described earlier is customer relations, unless you were/are a shareholder of vanguard and had questions about investing in the firm.
IR schmoes barely know the company motto, let alone organic growth rates… Go to the CFO, but if he hasn’t released it publicly, technically he shouldn’t be telling you either
FYI at Vanguard the people who own the shares in the funds actually own the company It’s a “mutual fund” company in its purest form All investors in the funds effectively own the company So kkent is right - he contacted investor relations
Danteshek Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > FYI at Vanguard the people who own the shares in > the funds actually own the company > It’s a “mutual fund” company in its purest form > All investors in the funds effectively own the > company > So kkent is right - he contacted investor > relations Something tells me that if chintz calls up his firm’s IR and tells them he represents investors whose investments total $50k he won’t get a lot of respect.
kkent Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > No, that IS investor relations. Customer > relations is totally different. And it is > addressing the question. My portfolio is big > enough to require frequent investment related > requests. Phone calls work. You are NOT talking about the same thing. Calling a company you have a few thousand with is not the same as calling General Electric and trying to get color on certain line items from their most recent 10-Q.
Danteshek Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > FYI at Vanguard the people who own the shares in > the funds actually own the company > It’s a “mutual fund” company in its purest form > All investors in the funds effectively own the > company > So kkent is right - he contacted investor > relations Yes, kkent contacted investor relations at Vanguard. This is slightly different than contacting investor relations at Best Buy.
When I have had the most trouble with IR is when it is outsourced. For example, I dealt with a small financial services firm who had their IR handled by some company called Ashton Partners. Awful. Just Awful. It was like calling Dell’s technical support. The young lady had NO industry knowledge, no idea how to work through a balance sheet and was 100% regurgitating information from Yahoo! articles and a training manuals. That is where I had the most trouble. On the other hand, most times I have called IR that is directly run by the company it has been a much better experience but you need to use the phone. If you’re trying to get color on something that has 400 analysts following it the e-mail becomes a blackhole. If it’s legit you’ll get a higher up.
Something tells me that kkent hasn’t been exactly forthcoming about the size of his portfolio… He has suggested that it’s between 50 and 100, but that is not large enough to necessitate “frequent requests”… but hey you aren’t anonymous on here so probably best not to go into too much detail.
So the consensus is that my best chance is to get them on the phone. By the way I also contacted some analysts who wrote research reports about these companies and they were more willing to give details. Atleast some of them