Banks Give Investors the Silent Treatment

We’re ensconced in the third quarter earnings season, and to say it is an important one is a mighty understatement. The health of the financial services system is nothing short of crucial to the US economy — and investors.

Yet, it seems that some banks give investors the silent treatment, and completely avoid the ritual earnings conference call with investors. Why they do that is a mystery to me.

I looked at Yahoo Finance’s earnings calendar to determine which financial services companies (I went beyond banks for this project) are holding conference calls. What I found was that — at least on the surface — publicly traded financial institutions appear to be less likely to hold earnings calls than companies in other industries.

In all, 961 companies are releasing their earnings this week, according to Yahoo Finance. About half of them indicate — or at least Yahoo indicates — that they will be holding an earnings call. But among the 102 financial institutions releasing earnings this week, only 23% appear to have earnings calls scheduled.

Now, Yahoo Finance is certainly not perfect. For example, Yahoo does not mark Midwest Banc Holdings [ticker: MBHI] and NewAlliance Bancshares [ticker: NAL] as having earnings calls scheduled, yet executives from both will talk with investors this week. However, directionally, I think it is fair to say financial institutions generally are less likely to hold an earnings call with investors.

This, in my opinion, is less than ideal. Financial institutions remain troubled from an investor’s perspective. The S&P Bank Stock Index remains about 28% below its 52-week high, and that’s during a troubled 52 weeks at that. To not be out in front of investors cannot help. Someone get IR on the line.