What does the word “actionable” mean to you?

It’s a decent name for a rock band, yes. But it means “what stuff can you do with this?”

Traders want actionable data – something to drive opportunity for profit. Investor-relations professionals want actionable tools – something that’ll improve stock ownership, share price, results of IR effort.

Knowing who owns your stock is good. But what actions can you take? Talk to sellers? That’s uncomfortable. Plus, unless you’re screwing up, selling is a compliment, an investment objective. The sellers should well buy again, when the time’s right. Continue reading →

“The CFO wants to know why our stock is down when it should be up.”

That’s the essence of conversations I had yesterday with two investor-relations officers. It’s tempting to suggest asking Al Gore about why things that should be up are instead down. But that’s an old joke. And it won’t make you more valuable in the IR chair.

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What a blast we had in the high country skiing last week! But now, East Coast, we here in Denver would like our snow back, please.

Everybody’s got an opinion on why the market is yinning and yanging. We, I believe uniquely in IR, look at market structure first. That is, we see the trading data and behavior, and then from it we ask, “Why did that happen?” Continue reading →

Thought for the day: “Chaotic action is preferable to orderly inaction.” – Will Rogers

Speaking of chaotic action, let’s review trading basics. We tend to think trading is buying and selling stock. To quote John Kerry, would that it were! Most trading today isn’t done for capital appreciation but to capture short-term divergence or to balance risk. Continue reading →

Happy New Year!

I grew up in the Snake River Breaks northwest of Boise. In tiny Huntington, where I quarterbacked the eight-man high-school football team, a guy ahead of me several years achieved local fame at middle linebacker for the Boise State Broncos. BSU was I-AA back then, in the Big Sky league. Last night, it was great seeing the Broncos go 14-0, beating undefeated and 4th-ranked TCU in the Fiesta Bowl. The little big sky school has come a long way.

Speaking of a long way, here we are in Twenty Ten. What to expect this year? Continue reading →