Investor relations continues to remain a collaborative group by spending dedicated time annually gathering and cycling information in various venues while not hesitating to exchange ideas to offer advice in person at conferences and online sites. This systematic approach contributes helping the IR industry move ahead to benefit public companies and their shareholders. It’s a known fact that the months of fall are particularly a busy time for such conferences and forums. Investor Relations Partners (IRP) and its clients recently attended and sponsored two small-cap conferences during September and October 2015: the Singular Research Conference in Los Angeles as well as the Aegis Conference in Las Vegas with plans on doing the same for the upcoming SeeThruEquity and LD Micro Conferences.
Out of many traditional topics that were discussed in these conferences, conversations about investor activism and the lack of information about public stock trading from technological change had changed significantly. Both cases demonstrated common points pertaining the need for new techniques/tools for creative tactical strategies. Though these two topics
differentiated completely, they both concluded the urgency in obtaining intelligence or stock surveillance services as a tool towards engagement in activism and “greenmail” investors during the 80’s and 90’s. The evolution of stock surveillance proved as a useful tool commonly for trading and shareholder movement. Many believe this evolved transition had become
valuable for crisis management.
Investor Relations Partners informed participants the current availability of information within the market structure and explained how good market intelligence techniques have evolved navigation in the new landscape. Trading and gathering information from specialist from the NYSE stocks and NASDAQ Marketing Intelligence is one of the most common of these new tools. The analytics ranges from the stock movement, size of institutional trading, and other collective data. Analysts were then able to approach this with the most recent data and feedback from these institutions while tying trading to identify the size of institutional positions.
As this change of regulation and technology reduced volume by around 20% of total traded volume, the source of color on most of this trading vanished. However, a majority of stock surveillance deemphasized the examination of the analysis of trading as a key component of their authority from clients. In contrast, overused surveillance comprises a various group of news, analyst comments, market or industry commentary, backed by monthly review of settlement data and sub sequential reporting. Clients of public companies settle for using surveillance firms for information, rather than using traditional research.
Though the market structure clearly has undergone change, the nature of reliable information regarding trading and institutional activity remains untouched. Typically activist investors adjust their tactics to frequently build positions in target companies including common stock ownership positions in options. The state of stock surveillance remains aimed toward
aiding clients to perform their jobs more efficiently. Reliance on analysts working with spreadsheets and aging workflow platforms have weakened substantially. Effective stock surveillance must incorporate analytics of large data, experience from non-traditional backgrounds within its technology team structure, and develop analysis that tracks the cycle of a
company’s equity trading, such as options. Advancement remains the key for stock surveillance producers.
Breakthroughs occur from such evolution including examination of order flow to report the contributions to trading on a daily basis. Sentiment and price movement that prepares analysts and clients similarly with what the market predicts in the short term provides alerts from trading deviates and expected range. Monitoring equity and option flow for intelligence regarding conditions as analysts are probably on the move.
Such efforts are developed to contribute the investor relations professional with their prime goal of helping the profession to adapt and move ahead. For additional information on Investor Relations Partners and how we can help your company navigate through the many advanced tools available to IROs today, please contact Harry Tajyar at 818-280-6800 or via email at htajyar@irpartnersinc.com.