New Research: The Power of Intangible Factors on Investment Decisions

Weber Shandwick, in partnership with KRC Research, has conducted a survey among buy-side investors in the U.S. to determine what influences buy-side investors’ valuation perceptions and investment decisions. The research, 2017 Report from the Buy Side: The Power of Intangibles to Influence Investment Decisions, finds that intangibles (i.e. non-financial factors) impact investment decisions.

The majority of buy side investors (80 percent) report their firms assign a lot or some weight to a range of intangible factors when making an investment decision. The most influential elements include quality of and confidence in leadership, transparency in reporting company performance, and corporate governance and ethical standards.

The research also finds that investors consider their personal interactions with the C-suite to be critical in making investment decisions. Investors would like to interact with senior management on average seven times per year, either by email (3.1 times per year), by phone (2.6 times) or in-person (1.3 times).

As expected, investors pay extra attention to CEO actions during times of financial difficulty (78 percent), strategic investments or transactions (77 percent), public image crises (75 percent) and government scrutiny (75 percent).

The 2017 Report from the Buy Side provides six guidelines for companies and communicators looking to more effectively communicate with the investment community.

Click here to view the report. View a summary of findings below.