Capital Markets / Investor Relations in Two Minutes or Less
Never Eat a Prepared Meal When Everyone Else Was Served a Buffet Lunch!
Destroying value represents the most sure-fire way of making enemies on Wall Street.
Management teams that miss expectations or deviate from plans anger Investors.
Sell-Side Analysts that publish negative research on a company anger Investors and Management teams.
The more shareholder value destruction, the more likely one is to receive a unexpected visit from Scott Stevens' left shoulder!
Revisiting My Cerner Sell Call
When I put a Sell rating on Cerner:
I pissed off Cerner.
I pissed off the Buy-Side.
I pissed off the other Public Digital Healthcare Companies.
I pissed off my own Investment Bank employer.
Essentially, everyone hated me and many still hate my guts!
While my stock call was correct, my sell-rating was the equivalent of peeing in the neighborhood pool.
Cerner + Steve Rubis = Abusive Relationship
My mistake was calling out the CEO in a couple of sentences of a 40-page initiation note.
Any time I published a note on Cerner, I would receive an abusive email from the executive team telling me where I can put my research, and that I was a Crumb Bumb!
Three years after leaving the Sell-Side, I was still receiving abusive emails from the Cerner Executive team!
Never Eat a Prepared Meal When Everyone Was Served a Buffet Lunch
Executives and analysts need to be prepared for the gloves to come off when they undertake significant value destruction and anger everyone.
My experience revolved around receiving a pre-made plate of food at a buffet lunch during a company analyst day.
I arrived late as I had downgraded Cerner the night before and had numerous calls and travel to Boston. Upon my late arrival, I received a pre-made plate of food from the IR guy.
Fast forward to Q&A, I am getting the death stare from the executive answering questions the entire time.
By the end of the day, I was feeling out of it and disoriented. On my flight home, the flight attendant thought I looked like death warmed over!
Getting off the plane at DCA, I had no idea where I was or how to get to my car. I literally did all I could to make it to a hotel in Rosslyn that night.
All I know is that I never felt the way I did that night before that night or since that night!
Public company executives destroying value become Eric Lindros, and they need to be prepared for a visit from Scott Stevens’ left shoulder (angry investors) and the concussion they don’t see coming!
Comments