Just because you weren’t invited to present at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference doesn’t mean you can’t present during the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference.
The JP Morgan Healthcare Conference has trended more and more towards showcasing large caps in recent years. The spots open to small caps and private companies are highly coveted and hard won. If your company isn’t one of the lucky few, you can still spend a very productive day or two in San Francisco meeting with actionable investors regardless of your market capitalization. Small cap fund managers and sell side analysts come to San Francisco during the first three days of the conference in droves. They are very happy to go anywhere near the St. Westin Francis Hotel — where the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference is held — for one-on-one meetings with companies that have attractive stories. EVC Group has conducted highly successful targeting efforts during the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference for many years. To make the most of your “satellite” presence at JP Morgan Heathcare, we recommend the following tactics:
First Impressions Always Last — This year, JP Morgan Healthcare runs from Monday, January 11 through Thursday, January 14. Investors tell us that their Tuesday and Wednesday schedules are booked solid, but Monday is surprisingly light. Aim for Monday meetings and be one of the first stories a portfolio manager hears that week.
Party like an Investment Banker — Many brokerage firms with a healthcare focus host cocktail parties at popular San Francisco hotels and restaurants, typically on Tuesday night. They are well attended by the buy-side and are great opportunities for networking. Hire a car service and party-hop. The hired car is especially valuable when it’s raining. San Francisco cabs don’t cruise the streets much.
Start Now! — Most of our clients coming to JP Morgan Healthcare already have full meeting schedules. Identify the firms you want to meet and aim to complete your itinerary before Christmas. If you wait until after the New Year, you are more likely to hear that the right firms don’t have time to meet you.
JP Morgan Healthcare has become a Mecca for healthcare investors and industry executives. Companies with compelling growth stories — but not formal invitations — can still make the annual pilgrimage worthwhile with some creatvity and planning.
Investor Relations
Holidays? The markets aren’t closed yet…
The Dow has surpassed 10,000, your valuation has risen with the NASDAQ by 40 percent during the past year and your Board of Directors wants you to strenghen your balance sheet, make an acquisition, boost R&D or launch a product early in the New Year. It’s time to raise some capital.
Contrary to what you may be hearing, while it is the second week of December, don’t think that the market is closed to new deals for the remainder of the year. Buyside investors tell us that they are actively seeking compelling new opportunities to deploy capital through year-end. And a $20 to $30 million equity raise can be completed, start to finish, in less than two weeks.
EVC Group has relationships with a number of quality investment banks who can complete transactions this calendar year and provide longer-term, after-transaction market support. We’d be happy to make some introductions — quickly! Give is a call.
Investor Relations
Doug’s Midwest Investor Musings
Minneapolis, Milwaukee, and Chicago…during the past two weeks I met with 15 analysts and investors in these three Midwestern cities. The purpose of these meetings was to learn what they are looking for in the way of micro-cap and small-cap stocks, and to market our clients who meet their parameters for investment. Thoughts about where the market was heading were all over the place, but not many were optimistic about another 30 or 40 percent rise. Sideways was probably the consensus.
Concurrent with my travels, the CEO of one of our client companies was meeting with buy-side investors in the same three cities. The reception for this company… which is a small-cap with a cloudy short-term outlook, strong balance sheet, solid management team, and solid long- term growth opportunities…was excellent. We already know that several of the investors he met with have become new holders of the stock, which rose more than 10 percent during the period while the rest of the market was down.
The moral of our Midwest investor musings…there’s been a dearth of non-deal road shows in strong micro-cap and small-cap markets such as Minneapolis, Milwaukee and Chicago. Yet, many, many fund managers have assets to deploy and they are looking for new ideas. If you can target investors that are actionable, that is, have a demonstrable interest in companies like yours and have the ability to buy your stock, get out and see them. They aren’t getting many calls.
Investor Relations
Preparing for Russell Rebalance 2009
Friday, June 26th is fast approaching – do you know where your company ranks on the Russell indices?
Russell began announcing preliminary updates to its Russell Global Index®, Russell 3000® and Russell Microcap® indices on June 12th. The rebalance of the Russell Investments indices will be finalized on June 26th.
Index funds that track the performance of the Russell 3000 will buy or sell stocks at the close on June 26th based on additions, deletions and weighting changes within the Russell 3000 and its components. “Russell Rebalance Day” is often one of the busiest trading days in the equity markets and a day when stocks added or deleted to the Russell indices often see elevated trading volume.
Companies began distributing news releases announcing their addition or deletion from the Russell indices starting at market close on Friday, June 12th, when preliminary additions and deletions were announced.
Issuing a news release stating that your company has received preliminary indication that it will be included in one of the Russell indices can build interest in your stock with investors who track such indices, especially before the final index is published. If your stock has been building in valuation and your company is executing, the release can underscore these positive developments in a credible manner.
Such a release might quote management, saying “We aim to be a leader in our U.S. market and during the past year we have grown sales by XX% and earnings by YY%. Our addition to the Russell Index reflects the market’s growing recognition of our company and will help enhance awareness of our progress and opportunities in the investment community.”
The Russell 3000 Index measures the performance of the largest 3,000 U.S. companies, according to Russell Investments. Membership in its indices is determined by a ranking of all listed companies by market cap yearly at the end of May, during each annual reconstitution period.
Top 3,000 stocks = Russell 3000 Index
Largest 1,000 stocks = Russell 1000 Index
Next 2,000 stocks = Russell 2000 Index
Smallest 1,000 in Russell 2000 + next smallest 1,000 companies = Russell Microcap Index
Companies may be excluded or deleted from the Russell indices at the time of rebalance if the stock is trading below $1.00, are on the Pink Sheets or Bulletin Board, or if there are other adjustments for cross ownership and privately held shares. Closed-end mutual funds, limited partnerships, royalty trusts, foreign stocks, American Depositary Receipt (ADRs) and the like are also excluded from the Russell indices.
Final membership lists for all Russell indices are posted on Monday, June 29th, and can be found at www.russell.com.