IHS Markit's Perception Analytics team engages in in-depth discussions with investors and analysts daily. Given recent market volatility and significant economic uncertainty, IHS Markit will be speaking to investors and analysts on a regular basis to assess how the current situation with COVID-19 is impacting their evaluations of and engagement with corporate issuers. Highlights include:

The Street is increasingly focused on companies' capital management and balance sheet positioning.
"I hope most management teams are sitting down right now and thinking about what they can do to preserve cash over the next 3-6 months..."

Companies should emphasize how they are prepared to react to the rapidly changing needs of their end customers.
"What happens in times like these is that really innovative new approaches tend to gain share because people are in a state of emergency."

A few suggest that IR should acknowledge the significant uncertainty embedded in their guidance and future performance.
"I find certainty right now to be a bit off-putting because it is almost not credible.It is much easier to have confidence in a management team that is saying 'Since we do not know what the impact is going to be, we are not going to speculate.'"

Interviewees highlight the value of IR remaining both proactive and responsive during times of market turmoil.
"IR teams need to take advantage of anything they can do in terms of being proactive with their communication, if and when they have something to announce…"

Download the full report here

IHS Markit's Perception team will continue to gather real-time market feedback as the situation unfolds, so please look out for the next part of this series.

Part 1 available to view here.

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This article was published by S&P Global Market Intelligence and not by S&P Global Ratings, which is a separately managed division of S&P Global.