An Interview with Mark Coker, Founder of BestCalls

Mark Coker, founder of BestCalls.com

What is BestCalls? - BestCalls is the Internet's first and largest public directory of investor conference calls and events. The BestCalls directory tracks conference calls and access information for thousands of publicly traded companies.

Why did you create BestCalls? - The idea for BestCalls came to me in 1997 as I was tracking the conference call schedules of my own investments. One of the companies I owned denied me access to their earnings conference call because I was an individual investor. They said their call was only open to analysts. I did a little research and learned that at the time, 80% of all public companies had a policy of excluding individual investors from their call - even the replays. Out of frustration, I sold my shares in the company and used the $120,000 in profits to create BestCalls, a Web site that would showcase the earnings conference calls of companies that welcomed individual investors. At its heart, BestCalls was a cause wrapped in a web site's clothing. The 'cause' was to open up conference calls to all investors, large and small. Today, the cause has been achieved. Nearly 100% of publicly held companies who hold conference calls now provide access to all investors.

Why should investors attend conference calls? - Conference calls offer investors an opportunity to hear the senior management - typically the CEO, president and CFO - of publicly traded companies speak about their businesses. The information is live and unfiltered. It's the same information that industry analysts rely upon to formulate their earnings estimates.

Can't investors get the same information by studying the balance sheet and income statement? - No. Balance sheets and income statements only tell part of the story. You'll learn information on conference calls that you'll never find in an annual report, 10K, 10Q or press release.

What information comes out in a conference call that you can't get in an annual report or press release? - Conference calls provide detailed and timely information. Annual reports, for example, come out months after the end of the year, so they tell you how your company WAS doing but not how it IS doing. And a press release only summarizes information, but provides little depth. A conference call provides insight into the true driving forces behind a company's performance. How did the company really perform this quarter? How is the company standing up to its competitors? Is management optimistic about the future? What is management's earnings guidance for the next few quarters? These are the questions answered in conference calls. Perhaps most importantly, however, conference calls allow you to form an opinion of management.

Is market-moving information revealed during conference calls? - Yes. Although public companies attempt to disclose materially significant information in the form of press releases in advance of the calls, new information almost always comes out during a conference call. The information can be as subtle as renewed confidence in the voice of the CEO, or as market-moving as management re-adjusting their business forecasts. Most investors have probably read in the newspaper how comments made in an earnings conference call caused the stock to move dramatically the following day. If you don't attend the call, you don't get the information as quickly as the professionals. In December 1999, the Securities and Exchange Commission proposed Regulation FD, a controversial regulation that aimed to stamp out selective disclosure. From day one, BestCalls was one of the industry's most outspoken supporters of Regulation FD. The regulation was implemented in October 2000 and has been successful at reducing selective disclosure.

Do you need to own stock in the company whose conference call you attend? - No. Most companies will allow prospective shareholders to attend their calls. Conference calls help you learn about a company's fundamental prospects before you invest.

If an investor subscribes to a long term "buy and hold" investment philosophy, then why should they take the time to attend a conference call? - While I am a strong proponent of long term investing, I believe smart investors should take an active role in managing their investments. Imagine you purchase a business and hire someone else to manage it. Wouldn't you want to have meetings with management on a regular basis to monitor their progress and make recommendations? Owning stock is no different. When you buy stock, you become an owner. Management works for you. Quarterly earnings conference calls are when management reports to you and the other owners.

Do all companies hold quarterly conference calls? - Nearly 5,000 companies hold earnings conference calls each quarter, and the number rises each quarter as more and more companies embrace open conference calls as an important investor communications tool.

Are individual investors allowed to attend the calls? - Nearly 100% of all companies who hold calls now allow individual investors to attend.

Are individual investors allowed to ask questions during the calls? - Most companies do not allow individual investors to ask questions during the calls. While this may not seem fair, it's important to remember that many conference calls have thousands of attendees, and if everyone was allowed to ask a question the call could go on for hours. Listen carefully to the analyst questions. You'll find that the analyst's questions will answer most of your questions.

What is the future of conference call webcasts over the Internet? - I'm excited about the potential of conference call webcasts to bring conference calls to a broader audience. While they typically lack the true interactivity of a live telephone call, they're great for making archived calls available for playback. BestCalls links to thousands of webcasts each quarter.

Does BestCalls produce or broadcast webcasts of conference calls? - No, just like TV Guide doesn't produce TV shows, BestCalls does not produce conference calls. Instead, we tell you what's playing when and how to tune in, and we'll leave the production and broadcasting to the other fine services.

Can members tailor BestCalls to their specific interests? - Absolutely. BestCalls makes it simple for investors to track conference calls. BestCalls members can create a personalized conference call tracking portfolio called CallTracker. You simply tell CallTracker which conference calls you want to track and CallTracker will automatically notify you via email whenever a new call is scheduled in the BestCalls directory.

Do you keep your member's personal information confidential? - Absolutely. All member account information is kept strictly confidential. We do not sell or rent our member lists to anyone.

Does BestCalls make investment recommendations? - Never.

Do companies pay to have their conference calls listed? - No. Conference call listings are free to any publicly traded company.

Tell us about yourself - I've been an individual investor for 22 years, ever since I was in high school. Eight years ago, I founded a high tech media relations company called Dovetail Public Relations, which is now one of Silicon Valley's largest public relations firms. Dovetail works with technology companies to promote their products, people and companies to the media. It was through my experience representing publicly traded companies that I gained my first exposure to conference calls. Once I learned how valuable conference calls were to the analysts who tracked my clients, I began attending the conference calls for my personal stock holdings.

What is the future of BestCalls? - BestCalls was the industry's first public directory of investor conference calls and events. Today, we remain the recognized leader and the largest single source for conference call schedules. Over the coming quarters and years, we'll continue to expand our coverage of important investor events such as conference calls, shareholder meetings, analyst meetings and investor conferences. BestCalls will always continue to be an outspoken advocate for fair disclosure, where we're working on behalf of all investors to democratize the dissemination of market-moving information.