How IR Teams Can Make Sure They’re Aligned with Leading Analysts

In our conversations with Investor Relations (IR) teams, the subject of analyst coverage comes up regularly and it is clear that IR teams invest a lot of time in making sure they maintain good levels of analyst coverage. Good analysts play a valuable role in ensuring that the corporate story is well understood – so how can IR teams make sure they are aligned with the leading analysts?

Here at WeConvene, we have been raising the point for some time now that despite the best efforts of IR teams it is highly likely that the vast majority of corporates will start to see a reduction in the number of analysts that cover them as the impact of MiFID II takes hold. We are certainly not the only ones delivering this message and based on our discussions with IRO’s from mid and small-cap corporates, it is a scenario that many are now actively preparing for.

Our recently released whitepaper Why IROs should focus on strategic engagement with analysts examines this scenario in detail and for IR teams, one of the main points we highlight is that the number of analysts covering a company is in some respects less important than ensuring that you are covered by the most influential analysts or to put it another way, the analysts that investors “value” enough to deem worth paying for in a post-MiFID II world. We lay out the reasons why this is the case in the whitepaper, but another one to add to the list is that these are theanalysts most likely to survive as the industry undergoes MiFID II related change in the next 12-18 months.

As a starting point for IR teams, qualitative resources such as surveys of the investment community are a great way to get an understanding of which analysts are the most highly valued by investors. Handily, Extel, the leading survey of the European investment community is also part of WeConvene and provides a unique insight into what the buy side values.

For the 2017 Extel survey, 15,561 investment professionals at 3,199 buy-side firms cast their votes on the services provided to them by the sell side. From the hundreds of analysts rated across all sectors, below is a list of the analysts that were most highly ranked in their relevant sectors – the analysts that investors voted the best from among their peer group.

The rankings only tell one part of the story though, when we took a look at the comments that investors left against the most highly rated analysts, a clear theme emerged as to why they are so highly valued. “Client focused”, “Delivers actionable ideas”, “Understands the thematic and structural changes within the industry” and “Provides differentiated analysis compared with peers” stood out as the feedback that was consistently attributed to the leading analysts.

Although the above list of analysts is a select and well known group, there are many others that are equally valued by investors and by focusing more time on pinpointing and strengthening relationships with this group, as opposed to using valuable resources trying to ensure the widest possible coverage, IR teams have a better chance of making sure they are aligned with the analysts who will still be around as the MiFID II fallout continues.