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Facts. Analysts crave them, but executives and especially those from publicly traded companies, are not providing them. According to a just released survey in partnership with Investing.com, 51% of analysts feel they are not receiving factual or unbiased information from the executives of companies they cover.
In response, nearly 63% of the analysts are turning to social media data to uncover the “truths” about the companies they cover . Given the constraints of executive disclosure and the increasing pressures on management to paint a rosy picture, analysts are fact checking management by examining a company’s social media feeds.
Social media information about a company can’t be controlled by the company, so it’s offering a clearer picture of how a company may be performing versus its competitors, customer sentiment about the company or how a new product is faring in the market. Some analysts reported using solutions from companies like Mutual Mind, Nuvi.com and Crimson Hexagon to automatically alert the analyst to critical events or new trends.
And some are taking much farther - Chimera Research Group told me that they actively monitor the online and social media contributions of over 500 authors, analysts, journalists, scientists and executives in biotech and pharmaceuticals sectors. Their team coordinates this information via text messaging, email, tweets and conference calls, all which utilize various mobile mediums, to organize and publish consensus-based research reports.
How Mobile Will Impact Their Jobs
We asked analysts about Apple’s release of the new iPhones, iOS 8 and Apple Watch, and whether it was going to have any impact on their jobs. 77% thought the iPhone would have no impact, 74% thought the same about iOS 8 and 83% believe the Apple Watch will not matter. Not surprising, but when compared to the rest of their responses - it’s a curious set of replies.
Let’s look further.
62% of analysts reported using mobile technologies to help analyze the companies they cover . One analyst told us that they use mobile to, “Ensure a rapid response to critical financial news events. How? It enables receipt of news alerts and supports initial "dive" into research; it alerts any unusual activities or patterns. For me, this facilitates better and timelier discussions with my staff or clientele.”
Another analyst told us that they use mobile technologies to push timely analysis out to their social followers. But most analysts are using mobile technologies to monitor social networks like Twitter and to quickly act on company data they receive no matter where they are.
Then I asked Stanislav Shikhman, COO of Investing.com, who just released a mobile app for the iOS, for their take on the mobile trend and he told me, “Mobile technology in trading has never been more crucial and in demand. Because of the instant nature in which market activity occurs, and the need to react immediately, these mobile technologies provide investors and analysts alike the opportunity to respond to any type of financial market news or trends.”
So how do we reconcile the negative statements about Apple’s new devices and operating system with the responses about using mobile technologies in an analyst’s job? The obvious answer is that analysts are agnostic when it comes to which mobile vendor they’re using. The less obvious answer may be that Apple isn’t perceived as a real player in the financial analysis space.
Want to see more? Take a look at some of the other research in this infographic:
