Analyst Meeting

Once a year, publicly-held corporations report on performance topics to shareholders and analysts at an analyst meeting. Executives report on how the corporation has performed in terms of financial and accounting issues, mergers and acquisitions with other companies, any legal issues, what types of products are under development, and other topics that would be interesting to analysts.

Analyst meetings are meant to provide transparency of performance-related topics, giving investors and analysts a semi-detailed look at the company's operations. They also prevent accusations of unfair access to information, or of insider trading. Webcasting these meetings have grown in importance as corporations aim to increase transparency further.

Corporate executives plan analyst meetings months in advance and prepare for questions from investors, analysts and journalists. Often the events become something like a corporate pep rally, with a well-prepared executive team, led by a confident CEO, giving the rah-rah list of achievements and future glories. Sometimes, the meetings can turn contentious, though, if questions get more pointed than usual or if management has some bad performances to explain.