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:

A subset of respondents believe that this will mark a paradigm shift in the use of technology and virtual meetings as a substitute for in-person meetings.
"The complete virtualization of the professional service economy to the extent that you do not have to be in direct client contact, that is happening and has happened."

Investors believe that this is a near-term phenomenon and in-person, face-to-face engagement will never be completely replaced.
"There is a fundamental reality in the fact that these businesses are run by human beings and I have never found a substitute for sitting in front of a human being to ask questions and learn something."

Several are uncertain if this will fundamentally change the way that investors and issuers engage. Regardless, it serves as a catalyst for IR teams, who are encouraged to embrace technology and maintain visibility during these times.
"IR departments should be ready to make conference calls in order to maintain relations with investors. That is both with the investment community and with analysts. They should not slow down their public relations. The technology is quite developed to do this."

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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 2 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.