In a world where every facet of life is increasingly digital, businesses have to constantly strive to stay on the cutting edge of technology and innovation. Any opportunity to showcase a company’s forward-thinking approach is an opportunity to impress both existing and potential investors. Backtracks opens the door to this opportunity by providing a platform for broadcasting earnings calls via podcasts that are investor friendly and analyst-friendly. The corporation controls the availability of the podcasts, and Backtracks provides the analytics and searchable features that add value for both the business and its investors.
Companies have been holding earnings calls for decades, but until 2000, those calls were usually closed to the public. Only large institutional investors and analysts were privy to these meetings. With the exponential growth of the internet in the 1990s, however, came complaints from individual investors. The internet gave them the ability to perform their own stock transactions, and their irritation at not having access to earnings calls grew. They believed they had a right to learn about the performance of public companies at the same time as larger investors. The debate about expanding the audience for earnings calls was passionate and eventually resulted in the Security Exchange Commission (SEC) passing Regulation FD that requires publicly traded companies to disclose material information to all investors at the same time.
Today, any company with headquarters in the U.S. and securities that are traded on the stock market or other exchange have to file annual audited reports with the SEC at the end of every fiscal year and unaudited reports quarterly. They generally release financial information quarterly, quickly followed by earnings calls in which they verbally announce corporate earnings and other financial performance information. Some companies with shares traded on foreign exchanges also have American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) that are also traded on U.S. exchanges. These companies also have mandatory filings with the SEC and normally have earnings calls that are scheduled in accordance with the requirements of the countries in which their shares are traded.
As the world moves into the future, more and more publicly traded U.S. companies are meeting the needs of today’s investor by making their earnings calls available online. Companies like Kimberly Clark, Verizon, Procter & Gamble, and Logitech make their calls available for online playback. Today’s busy investor wants access to the financial information on their timetable, and they want to be able to access specific information easily. Backtrack lets them do exactly that.
By putting earnings calls, commentary, and analysis into podcasts, a company positions itself as a technologically enabled enterprise. Backtracks takes this even further by providing hosting, analytics, and transcripts for earnings calls.
The podcast analytics provided by Backtracks is an idea whose time has come. When a company knows who, what, when, and where people are listening to the time-shifted audio, they gain a better understanding of people with an interest in their financial performance. This knowledge is invaluable as they seek to improve earnings and satisfy investors.
Transcripts allow interested parties to have a printed record of a call that they can read at that convenience, identifying the information they find relevant in their investing decisions. Searchable audio files mean that current and potential investors can easily retrieve the specific information in which they are interested. They can listen anytime they want and even replay all or part of a podcast at their convenience.
Today’s investor is likely already listening to podcasts for entertainment, education, or information. There are podcasts on every topic, including those that provide financial guidance. Investors may listen to these podcasts on a variety of platforms including iTunes, Amazon Alexa, Stitcher, and Google Play. With Backtracks, a corporation meets investors where they are by making their earnings calls into podcasts that are available publicly on any of these platforms, or they can place the calls behind an investor relations portal and keep them private.
Today’s investors want to know that the company they invest in is moving into the future. They want to know that their investment supports a business that’s on the cutting edge of innovation. Backtracks offers podcasting features that communicate that and more. Contact us today to find out what we can do for you.
