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January 26, 1999
Investors' Rights
Ratings 6 - 5
In a wholly unscientific manner, Yi-Hsin Chang and Louis Corrigan each picked 10 well-known companies from a wide range of industries. Efforts were made to contact every company's investor relations (IR) department to ask about policies regarding conference calls, website offerings, and earnings press releases. Conference calls were rated on two criteria -- their availability to individual shareowners and whether a live broadcast was available on the Internet. Earnings announcements were rated on clarity, detail, and depth. The companies' IR websites were navigated to determine usefulness to shareowners. Each company was rated on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the highest rating possible.
Walt Disney Co. <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: DIS)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: DIS)") end if %>
500 South Buena Vista Street
Burbank, CA 91521
(818) 560-1000
http://www.disney.com/investors/index.html
Rating: 6
Foolish Efforts: Alas, if only Disney put half as much effort into its IR site as it seems to put into its other Disney.com sites. At least the company provides colorful annual reports and fact books for the past three years that detail its operations. It also has an archive of quarterly earnings releases for fiscal 1995 through 1998, historical financial data, a respectable list of frequently asked questions, and information about its annual meeting, dividends, and direct stock purchase plan. Disney doesn't hold conference calls with analysts but does offer a pre-recorded overview for select shareholders.
Areas for Improvement: For starters, Disney should broadcast its annual meeting live on the Internet and provide a searchable archive of all company press releases. It should also offer a service by which investors can sign up to be notified by e-mail of major events and announcements.
Campbell Soup(NYSE CPB)
Campbell Place
Camden, NJ 08103
(609) 342-4800
http://www.campbellsoup.com
Rating: 5.5
Foolish Efforts: Campbell's website allows investors to sign up for an e-mail service that automatically sends out financial bulletins and other news, or to use the same form to send comments or questions. A neat feature also allows shareowners to vote their proxies online. The site provides annual reports from the last three years (no download option, though) plus earnings and other press releases back into 1996. You can enroll online for the direct investment plan. There's also a set of executive bios plus a basic corporate history with timeline that makes for a nice introduction.
Areas for Improvement: The archived earnings releases don't include the income statements or balance sheet; they should. Also, a vertical rather than horizontal layout of the press releases on the website would work better. The site is also missing the obligatory link to the SEC filings. More important, though Campbell has allowed the Motley Fool on its live quarterly conference calls, they generally aren't open to individual investors or the media. Nor are they broadcast live on the website. That's a problem since the calls take place during market hours. Campbell does provide a replay for three days after the call, but investors must contact the company to get the code. The company ought to publish this information in a press release as well as do something to open up its live conference calls and to archive this and other useful investor material on its website.
Amazon.com <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: AMZN)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: AMZN)") end if %>
1516 Second Avenue, Fourth Floor
Seattle, WA 98101
(206) 622-2335
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/subst/misc/
company-info.html/002-1364361-0214019
Rating: 5.5
Foolish Efforts: One of the pleasant surprises of Amazon's website is a list of analysts covering the company, complete with analyst's firm affiliation and phone number. Want to ask Morgan Stanley's Mary Meeker for a date? Go for it! The site features press releases going back to the firm's IPO, including earnings releases complete with balance sheets; a downloadable 1997 annual report (only the letter to shareholders is available on the site); management bios; Edgar links; and easy-to-find contact info with email address (though no phone number).
Areas for Improvement: One downside of the website-as-storefront is that it makes it hard for investors to locate the IR link amidst all the promos. The company's FAQ and press release area are also stale, updated whenever someone gets around to it. Then again, Amazon has rectified a glaring affront to the individual investors who've helped send its stock soaring. This quarter, the company began offering a live webcast and two-day Web replay of its quarterly conference call. Amazon should consider archiving these calls for a longer period of time, posting transcripts of the calls on its website, and providing some regular forum for the company's actual owners to ask questions of management. We couldn't get the company's IR department to answer our questions.
Gillette Co. <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: G)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: G)") end if %>
Prudential Tower Building
Boston, MA 02199
(617) 421-7000
http://www.gillette.com
Rating: 5
Foolish Efforts: Well, at least Gillette has a website. Seriously, the company recently launched the site in conjunction with the release of its new Mach3 razor. The IR area gives an overview of the company's' history, operating structure, management, and historical stock performance, plus a breakdown of sales and profit by division and an "Online News Bureau" press release archive. It also includes the annual reports for the last two years.
Rating: 5
Next -- Company Ratings 4.5 - 4
Areas for Improvement: Gillette should include individual shareholders in its conference calls either by publicizing the call-in number or broadcasting them live on the Internet. At least the company already provides the replay number to anyone who asks and plans to offer transcripts of calls on its website. The company should offer a service by which investors can sign up to be notified by e-mail of major announcements and upcoming events.
McDonald's <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: MCD)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: MCD)") end if %>
McDonald's Plaza
Oak Brook, IL 60523
(630) 623-3000
http://www.mcdonalds.com
Foolish Efforts: The McDonald's website offers a host of information about franchising opportunities and the company's history. It also provides the most recent annual report downloadable in parts or in whole (not available for viewing online); historical financials (11 years) downloadable in Excel; an SEC link; one year's worth of financial press releases (detailed geographic breakdown with helpful percentage change calculations, but no balance sheets); a link to get info on its Direct Stock Purchase Plan; and a page recounting the split and dividend history.
Areas for Improvement: Though McDonald's makes a conference call replay available (by toll number) for three days after the call, the company doesn't allow individual investors or the media on its live calls. The media, but not actual owners, have a separate opportunity to speak with management. Even worse, the company conducts calls during market hours, allowing a select few to hear management elaborate on quarterly results and to act on this news before individual investors know what management has said. McDonald's should change this policy. The company says it has no plans to broadcast calls on the Web, to archive call replays, or to post transcripts. It doesn't yet handle e-mail questions from investors, but it says that will change sometime this year. It also doesn't offer an e-mail update service because "few shareholders have inquired about it." While its executives speak at conferences hosted by the NAIC and others that are open to individual investors, they also speak at conferences closed to the general public.