The earnings news release is critical for publicly-traded companies. The earnings press release offers investor relations and PR the opportunity to highlight the company’s achievements, establish expectations, and explain its challenges and shortcomings.
Analysts, investors, journalists and others scrutinize earnings releases. As a result, press releases on quarterly or annual earnings are often instrumental in the movement of stock price – and investor sentiment about the company. The earnings release can also contribute to improved SEO ranking and to increasing the number of visitors to the company’s website.
For guidance on how to prepare the releases, investor relations and PR professionals can turn to a new white paper Best Practices for Enhancing Earnings Releases by Matt Van Tassel, supervisor of global disclosure services for Business Wire.
These are several of the most important recommendations of the white paper.
Include exchange and securities identifiers. Including those identifiers when utilizing a commercial newswire such as Business Wire makes it easier for the release to be located and consumed. Exchange identifiers and tickers should be placed in the first paragraph and be properly formatted. Incorrect or missing formats can lead to lost stories. Best practices also call for including the International Securities Identification Number (ISIN), a number assigned to all securities.
Include financial tables. Financial tables are the most important part of the release for most audiences. Journalists at financial media often configure their searches to search for specific line items, traders use them to create alerts, and analysts like to see information in cash flow statements and other tables.
Include bullet points. Bullet points help readers quickly spot the main news elements. The white paper recommends to:
- use three to six bullet points,
- provide clear and concise sentences, and
- list bullets according to importance with emphasis on events that drove the numbers.
Use hyperlinks. Although many releases include links to the corporate home page, you can also include links to helpful supporting information like investor relations pages, product pages and registration pages. A link to the earnings conference call or webcast is especially useful. Trackable links can measure inbound website traffic.
The white paper also covers other practices on nontraditional disclosure methods, infographics and images, as well as other tips for improving earnings releases.
Stock Ticker and Exchange
Toni Vallen, managing director and president of Seton Services Ltd, agrees that including the company stock ticker and its exchange in the first paragraph is essential.
Writing in his blog, Vallen also says:
• A headline that is powerful yet short can catch the reader’s attention. Include the company’s name and indicate that it’s a financial report.
• Segmenting the release into sections can make the release more organized and understandable despite the overwhelming numbers and information.
• Consider adding a comment or statement from the CEO to make the earnings release compelling. A CEO’s two to three lines can show accountability if the company performed poorly during that quarter.
Finally, Business Wire doesn’t say it, but we will: All publicly-traded companies should use one of the major press release distribution services for all news releases on earnings. Companies should not use low-cost or free press release services (or Web-only services) to distribute earnings releases. Releases on earnings must meet regulatory requirements for notifications – and only the major services like Business Wire can assure widespread simultaneous distribution to all media outlets. That’s exactly what’s mandated for every earnings release.
Bottom Line: The best earnings releases are comprehensive, precise and convincing. The earnings release is a pivotal PR tool for communicating with journalists and investors. Following these best practices can help assure that your release is widely distributed, read and understood – and creates the most favorable possible impression.
William J. Comcowich founded and served as CEO of CyberAlert LLC, the predecessor of Glean.info. He is currently serving as Interim CEO and member of the Board of Directors. Glean.info provides customized media monitoring, media measurement and analytics solutions across all types of traditional and social media.
