This is a key part of the earnings-season dance that is often ignored by investors to their detriment. The company’s post-report conference call with analysts and other market insiders is what makes earnings such a nasty play.

For the most part a stock will move higher as its earnings release date approaches. During the “earnings run” about three-quarters of companies considered “good ones” will indeed move somewhat higher in the week preceding their actual earnings release. As the actual earnings date comes near, we have a significant problem: Do we hold through the earnings release hoping that the company will blow away the numbers and the stock will soar; or do we sell out in case the numbers are weak?

For years we have preached getting out ahead of the actual release. About 70% of the time a stock will sell off immediately afterward–even when the company
meets or exceeds estimates. We have seen that many times during the current earnings campaign.

Why? First, you get some of the old “buy the rumor sell the
news” theory that comes into play. Second, you never know what is going
to be said by company officials during the conference call that follows the earnings release. That’s where the rubber meets the road.

We used to see examples of a stock that is expected to make 45 cents and actually posts 52 cents and they get a big stock drop. The reason: During the conference call management said something like, “Going forward we don’t think we can sustain the growth level of the past quarter.” That is all traders need to hear. With stocks priced at high multiples of future sales and earnings, they don’t want to hear anything about future growth being unsustainable.

On the other hand, we have all seen a company actually miss the estimates but
explain during their call that it was just temporary and that going forward they expect to increase sales and revenues. The next day the stock flies. We never really know what is going to be said and therefore holding a stock through earnings is a poor risk-to-reward scenario. More times than not the stock is going to drop and you are going to take a hit.

So our best earnings play is to buy into your favorite company about 5-7 trading days ahead of the actual earnings release and sell out either the day before or the morning of the actual release (if the release is scheduled after the close). You may miss some upside, but you will be spared a severe spanking if they either miss or worse, say something stupid during the conference call.

If you want to listen to the conference call yourself, go to the company’s web site. They will usually announce the date and time of the release of the report and where to go to hear the chatter.

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Conferencing in its very basic form might be two people talking over the phone while browsing through a web site and making comments about the content.

Web conferencing started initially as an audio conferencing calls and it is still largely Used today mainly for presentation calls where the host is guiding a group of listeners, illustrating to them some concepts and from time to time answers questions or asking for comments.

This call can be recorded and later on either distributed to a larger group of potential customers or be put on a web site where other customers can download the audio file to their computer and listen to the whole thing at their convenient time.

With the introduction of the broadband, conferencing emerged into live Video conferencing where participants can actually see each other in addition to be able to hearing each other.

Then it developed into multi layering of information where conferencing participants can talk, see and even share and exchange presentations as well as drawing and sketch a concept on a tablet board (it’s called Whiteboard) while making comments on it.

In Addition web conferencing can conduct poles and votes among the participants same as they would during a board meetings.

This technology is a real alternative to face-to-face meetings. This level of conferencing is not without problems, it must be meticulously planed ahead of time,
positioning the web cams at appropriate well lighted spots, same for the microphones, the participants must exhibit high self discipline and concentration.

It can be implemented locally as well as internationally by medium to large companies. A well planed and coordinated web conference call can save a bundle of time, money and hassle.

One field where this conferencing application really revolutionized the whole process is the engineering and architectural planning. This has became part of e-construction methodology.

The planner is transferring his drawings CAD files to the next level or levels like the electrical engineer or the air-conditioner planner, they can all design and add their drawings over the original raster background (that is because it works in layers).

Then they can coordinate a web conference call and discuss potential conflicts and problems in their separate planning to the general construction plan, this can boost
and speed up the whole planning and design processes and help meet deadlines on time.

Another application can be Coach hiring managers on corporate process, screen candidates and avoid the significant costs associated with flying unsuitable candidates out for interviews.

Training sessions with selected employees around the globe is another time and money big saver. This e-Teacher technology is going to have a tremendous impact in the future on the education system as a whole from high school to the universities.

========This Resource Box must be included with the Article copy! ========

Amit Laufer is a writer and Internet Marketer.
MBA - International Trade & Finance.
Bsc. Computers and Information Systems.

Owner Editor of: Web Conference Call

(c) Copyrights 2006 http://www.web-conference-call.com

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There are many consumer products that we are allowed to try out before purchasing. We test drive cars, we try on clothing and footwear, and we can even taste small samples of food at the grocery store. So why not do the same for conference calling solutions?

Fortunately, most conference call services provide a free trial for their services. Many others provide demos. However, there’s really no substitute for using a service as you would in an actual business setting.

One thing to be aware of is that many of the free trial conference calls require that you provide your credit card information when signing up for the free trial. They will not charge your card during the free conference call trial period. However, you then will need to cancel your subscription before the trial period expires or your card will be charged for the next billing cycle of the conference call service. This usually isn’t a problem provided you remember to cancel the service if you don’t wish to become a long-term subscriber.

Once subscribed to the free trial conference call service, you should take advantage of the opportunity. Put the conference calling service through its paces. Spend some time on the vendor’s Website learning about the features of the service. Then recruit some participants from your organization to help evaluate the service by taking part in a conference call.

It helps to have a checklist of the features you want to test out. If the service allows you to share applications over the Web, then make sure that the participants are set up for this. Make note of how intuitive the user interface and instructions for using the service are.

Also observe how responsive the data stream is, especially if using video as part of the conferencing service. Of course a great deal depends on the bandwidth of your connection to the Internet, but the load on the conferencing service’s servers will also influence responsiveness. Time of day and demand will also impact throughput.

In order to keep things manageable you should probably take on one free trial conference call evaluation at a time. It may prove helpful to setup several conference call sessions with each service to get used to the service and try out all of its features. Of course, if after the first session you realize that the service just won’t work for you, then by all means, cancel your free trial and move on to the next free trial conference call evaluation.

As more businesses look to increase opportunities for collaboration with employees and partners and to better connect with prospects and customers, they will be turning to conferencing solutions. It pays to make the investment in time and effort to evaluate potential conferencing solutions. The service provider offers the free trial conference call, but it’s up to you to take advantage of it.

Richard R. Rojas covers the telecommunications industy and writes about business conference calls technology trends and services.

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