May 27, 1999 BESTCALLS NEWS by Mark Coker
Welcome to the second issue of BestCalls News, an exclusive
newsletter available only to members of BestCalls.com who have
requested it.
____________________________________________________________
INSIDE ISSUE #2:
o BestCalls.com membership surpasses 26,000
o 350 conference calls listed in 8 weeks
o BestCalls.com's mission
o Why companies who open conference calls will see higher
share prices
o The state of conference call openness today
o Top 5 reasons companies exclude individual investors from
their calls
o Top 5 reasons companies invite individual investors to
their calls
o Call to action
o BestCalls.com expands customer support
o New account management features added
o Time to update your CallTracker
o Contest update, did you win a Palm V?
o BestCalls.com signs first advertiser
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BESTCALLS.COM REGISTERS 26,000 MEMBERS IN EIGHT WEEKS
Over 26,000 people from more than 100 countries have joined as
members of BestCalls.com. 92% of you are individual investors.
And nearly 1,000 of you are Wall Street analysts. Welcome all.
350 CONFERENCE CALL SCHEDULES LISTED IN FIRST 8 WEEKS
BestCalls.com posted over 350 conference call schedules in the
last eight weeks. While we're pleased with our initial results,
we certainly aren't satisfied. Over the coming months, with
your help, we'll work to dramatically expand the number of calls
listed.
THE BESTCALLS.COM MISSION
Our mission at BestCalls.com is to open up conference calls for
all investors. We're not just a web site, we're a cause. We
believe that all investors, large and small, deserve at least
replay access to conference calls.
COMPANIES WHO OPEN THEIR CALLS WILL SEE HIGHER SHARE PRICES
Companies who open up their conference calls will reap enormous
benefits. How? They'll attract and retain individual
investors. Individual investors control hundreds of billions of
dollars in investable assets, they tend to hold stock for the
long term, and they're hungry for fundamental research
information.
Many BestCalls members use conference calls as a tool to
discover new investment opportunities. It's a win-win for
everyone.
THE STATE OF CONFERENCE CALL OPENNESS TODAY
Unfortunately, most companies exclude individual investors from
their conference calls. But this will change.
BestCalls.com, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the
media, and the National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI) will
serve as catalysts for this change.
In an effort to minimize selective disclosure, the SEC and NIRI
are encouraging public companies to open up their calls to
individual investors and the media.
Recent media coverage has also helped shine a bright light on
the problem of selective disclosure during conference calls.
Last week, for example, BusinessWeek's Amey Stone wrote an
excellent editorial arguing that companies should open up their
conference calls to all investors (BusinessWeek, May 24, 1999,
page 111).
With the exception of technology companies, however, much of
corporate America still has their collective heads stuck in the
sand. Consumer products companies, financial institutions, oil
companies, and retailers appear to have the worst records, which
is ironic considering individual investors are also their best
customers.
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TOP 5 REASONS COMPANIES EXCLUDE INDIVIDUAL INVESTORS
Why do some companies exclude individual investors from their
conference calls? Here's what the companies tell us:
1. "The information we present is geared to professional
investors. Individual investors will not understand the
information."
BestCalls comment: Some companies apparently don't
believe individual investors have the intelligence to
understand their business.
2. "We don't selectively disclose information during our
calls. Our calls are closed because we don't want
competitors listening in."
BestCalls comment: If their competitors don't know the
information, neither do their shareholders. Sounds like
selective disclosure to us.
3: "The teleconference fees are too expensive for us to
have hundreds of individual investors tying up the
phone lines."
BestCalls comment: These companies should consider
broadcasting their calls over the Internet. It often
costs less than $1,000, well within the budget of most
public companies.
4: "We're only interested in attracting institutional
investors to our company. We don't want to attract
individual investors to our company."
BestCalls comment: These companies are passing up an
opportunity to attract a stable shareholder base of long
term investors.
5: "We don't want individual investors asking questions
because the conference call would drag on too long."
BestCalls comment: That's fine. Allow them to listen
to the replay instead.
TOP 5 REASONS COMPANIES INVITE INDIVIDUAL INVESTOR TO CALLS
Here are the five most commonly cited reasons (in no particular
order) progressive companies say they open their calls to all
investors.
They want to:
1. Attract new investors
2. Retain existing investors
3. Automate shareholder communications by speaking with
many investors all at once
4. Reduce selective disclosure risk by providing all
investors equal access to the call
5. Improve the quality of investor communications and
bypass common mis-information sources such as Internet
message boards.
CALL TO ACTION
Here's how you, as a BestCalls.com member, can help open up
conference calls:
1. Encourage each company you own to post their conference
call schedule in BestCalls.com. It's free. If they
refuse to allow individual investors to attend, write a
letter to the CEO. Sell the stock. Or boycott their
products.
2. When a company lists their conference call schedule in
BestCalls.com, thank them! Reward them by being a long
term holder of their stock. Buy their products and use
their services.
3. Spread the word about conference calls to every long
term investor you know. Ask them to become a member of
BestCalls.com and join our cause.
4. Call or write your favorite journalist or financial
columnist. Ask them to inform their audience about the
great fundamental research information available from
conference calls. If you were introduced to conference
calls and BestCalls.com from a story in the media, call
or write the journalist and thank him or her for helping
you make more informed investment decisions.
5. If you're a member of an investment club, don't purchase
the shares of companies who exclude individual investors
from their conference calls. Make it a policy in your
club's charter.
6. If you're a buyside analyst, encourage all the companies
in your portfolio to list their conference call
schedules on BestCalls.com. When companies post their
calls on BestCalls.com, they attract new investors.
7. If you're an investor relations professional, please
post your calls as soon as you have them scheduled. If
the live call's not open, just post the replay. Or
place BestCalls.com on your conference call invitation
fax list, and we'll post the calls for you. Our fax
number is 408.358.1921.
NEW FEATURE: VISIT OUR NEW ONLINE SUPPORT CENTER
We're pleased to announce that BestCalls.com has added a new
online support center. Now, when you click on "support,"
you'll be given new options that will help you find answers
faster than ever. We've created a dynamic database of
frequently asked questions (FAQs) with the assistance of our
good friends at Right Now Technologies (Right Now is the #1
best-selling provider of web-based support systems. Check them
out for your own corporate web site at
rightnowtech.com). You can search for answers by
category or keyword, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And
yes, of course, if you don't find the answer you need, email us.
We're always happy to take your questions.
NEW ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT FEATURES ADDED
BestCalls.com has added new options that simplify the management
of your membership details such as your screen name, password,
address, or newsletter subscription status. Just click on
"update account" from the home page, scroll down to the bottom
of the page, and you'll find options to easily change your
account settings.
SHOULD COMPANIES OPEN THE Q&A TO INDIVIDUAL INVESTORS?
We've had several companies ask if we believe individual
investors should be allowed to ask questions during the live
analyst Q&A session at the end of each call. This is a
difficult issue, and it is a major concern for many companies
who are considering opening up their calls for the first time.
Our advice to companies: Don't let this issue prevent you from
opening up your call. Reserve the Q&A for analysts, and allow
all investors to access to the replay. Especially for larger
companies, such as companies in the BestCalls 50 Index
(http://www.bestcalls.com/50), there's simply not enough time to
answer dozens of questions from the hundreds of attending
individual investors.
Considering the fact that most individual investors aren't even
aware of conference calls, we think replay-only attendance is a
positive first step in the right direction. Let me know what
you think.
TIME TO UPDATE YOUR CALLTRACKER
One of the greatest benefits of BestCalls membership is
CallTracker. CallTracker provides you automated email
notifications of the conference calls you specify.
With Q2 earnings season just a few weeks away, now's a good time
to update your CallTracker. To access your CallTracker, see the
links at the bottom of this page, or click "update account"
from the home page.
CONTEST UPDATE: WINNERS HAVE BEEN NOTIFIED
As some of you will recall, BestCalls.com ran a contest in which
the first 10,000 people to register for BestCalls.com were
eligible to win one of two Palm Vs and one of ten collector's
edition cobalt blue BestCalls.com coffee mugs. Winners were
notified last week, so check your emails.
BESTCALLS.COM SIGNS FIRST ADVERTISER
Please join me in welcoming Summons Conferencing, a leading
teleconferencing firm, as BestCalls.com's first advertiser. By
now, you've probably seen their banners. It's through the
generous support of advertisers such as Summons that we're able
to provide you free access to BestCalls.com. Please support our
advertisers. You can visit Summons at
summons.com.
Thank you for supporting BestCalls.com. Please tell a friend.
Yours,
Mark Coker
Founder, BestCalls.com
P.S. If you have conference call related topics you want to see
addressed in future issues of this newsletter, please write me
at mark@bestcalls.com
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