Title: Numbers and meetings between financial analysts and corporate managers

Authors: Gunnar Wahlström

Addresses: Gothenburg Research Institute, University of Gothenburg, P.O. Box 100, S - 405 30 Gothenburg, Sweden

Abstract: One function for financial analysts is to provide recommendations 'crowned' with a price for the share in the future. Financial analysts have several sources of information, and in the literature, meetings between financial analysts and corporate managers have been exposed as the most important source of information. The purpose of this paper is to describe and explain those meetings. The findings are grounded on 25 unstructured interviews with the highest-ranking financial analysts in Sweden. The findings prove that financial analysts are bound to communicate their results in numbers; but as their quantitative models are problematic, the financial analysts become dependent on face-to-face discussions with managers. Consequently, financial analysts depart from the statistically deductive models learnt at universities and the analysts put their efforts in personal contacts with the managers. In conclusion, for financial analysts, 'talk' becomes more useful than computing numbers through quantitative models.

Keywords: financial analysts; private meetings; corporate managers; Sweden; financial disclosure; capital markets; face-to-face discussions; personal contacts.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMP.2013.057824

International Journal of Management Practice, 2013 Vol.6 No.4, pp.363 - 373

Published online: 28 Nov 2013 *

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