There's a new initiative designed to improve relations between public companies and their shareholders. It's called the “fifth analyst call,” and while that tag is a bit of a misnomer since it doesn't involve analysts at all, some large investment groups are pushing the idea.
The fifth analyst call is a conference call with a select group of a company's major institutional investors held 10 to 15 days prior to the annual shareholders meeting. It is in addition to the four calls that most companies hold each quarter just after earnings are released. The quarterly calls cover the financial performance ...