NIRI Issues 2005 Survey Results on Earnings Guidance Practices; Number of Companies Providing Earnings Guidance Declining.

VIENNA, Va. -- The National Investor Relations Institute today announced the results of a survey on current earnings guidance practices among its corporate members. A similar survey was last published in December 2003.

According to this NIRI survey of 527 corporate members' earnings guidance practices, there was a decline in the percentage of companies providing earnings guidance to 71% from 77% in December 2003. Moreover, there was a significant increase in the percentage of companies providing annualized guidance to 61% from 38% in the previous survey, while 61% also provide quarterly guidance, down from 75%.

"In spite of a decline in the number of companies providing earnings guidance, a strong majority of companies still believe analysts and investors need some direction from the company to avoid increased stock price volatility. These results also say that a majority also believe annualized guidance is increasingly important, whether or not they issue quarterly guidance." said Louis M. Thompson, NIRI's president and CEO.

Also of significance is that 93% now update their earnings guidance if there is a material change, up from 80% in 2003. The means most used for publicly releasing updated guidance is a news release (83%), a fully accessible conference call (40%), and furnishing it in a Form 8-K filing (48%). Thompson said, "We are pleased to see such a strong percentage of companies now updating their guidance when needed rather than remaining silent when material changes occur."

When asked if they were to no longer provide earnings guidance, would analysts be more likely to take a longer-term view of their company's prospects, 50% said they would not and 44% thought they might.

Earnings guidance, for purposes of this survey, is defined as a range of earnings per share (EPS) estimates which 80% provide; a point EPS estimate which only 5% use; or an earnings model that 10% provide. Sixty percent will also provide revenue estimates.

NIRI is the professional association of corporate officers and investor relations consultants responsible for communications among corporate management, shareholders, security analysts and other financial publics. NIRI's 4,300 members represent over 2,100 publicly held companies in the United States.

The complete survey results are:

SECTION 1

1.1  Does your company provide earnings guidance in the context of a
     range of EPS, an EPS point estimate, an earnings model or revenue
     guidance?

        71%        Yes
        29%        No

SECTION 2 (Responses of those that said they provide earnings
guidance)

2.1  Which of the following types of earnings guidance do you
     disclose? (Check all that apply)

        80%        A range of earnings per share
         5%        An EPS point estimate
        60%        Revenue guidance
        10%        An earnings model
        30%        Other

2.2  How often do you provide guidance?

        28%        Quarterly only
        28%        Annually only
        33%        Both
        11%        As needed

2.3  How do you currently provide earnings guidance? (Check all that
     apply)

        88%        Fully accessible conference call
        83%        Quarterly conference call
        51%        8-K
        27%        10-Q or 10-K
         9%        Quarterly fully accessible conference call but NOT
                   in the earnings release
         8%        Other

2.4  Do you update earnings guidance during the quarter or year if
     there is a material change? (Check all that apply)

        83%        Yes, in a news release
        48%        Yes, in an 8-K filing
        40%        Yes, in a fully accessible conference call
         7%        No, we do not update guidance if there is a
                   material change

2.5  Do you believe most analysts want earnings guidance and, if so,
     how often?

        67%        Yes, quarterly and annually
        16%        Yes, annually
        15%        Yes, quarterly
         2%        No, they do not want earnings guidance

2.6  What form of earnings guidance do you believe they prefer? (Check
     all that apply)

        60%        A range of EPS
        44%        Revenue estimates
        33%        An earnings model
        14%        A point EPS estimate
        18%        Other

2.7  If your company is currently providing quarterly guidance, are
     you considering moving to annualized guidance?

        44%        No
        31%        Not providing quarterly guidance
        10%        Not sure
         8%        Yes
         7%        No response

2.8  Is your company considering discontinuing earnings guidance?

        64%        Not considering discontinuing earnings guidance
        36%        Considering discontinuing earnings guidance

2.9  If your company is considering discontinuing earnings guidance,
     who first raise the issue?

        53%        Senior management
        20%        Board of directors
        15%        Investor relations officer
        11%        Other
         1%        Outside counsel

2.10 If you were to discontinue providing some form or earnings
     guidance, what do you think would happen to your analyst
     coverage?

        47%        Would have no effect on our analyst following
        32%        Would lose some analyst following
        12%        Other
         2%        Would lose analyst coverage all together
         7%        No response

2.11 If you were to no longer provide earnings guidance, would this
     likely result in analysts taking a longer term view of your
     company's prospects?

        50%        No
        44%        Yes
         6%        Not sure

2.12 On a scale from 1 to 5, do you care if analysts want earnings
     guidance?   (1 - least care; 5 - most care)

        19%        5
        42%        4
        28%        3
         8%        2
         3%        1

2.13 What other forms of guidance do you provide that may assist
     analysts in arriving at their estimates? (Check all that apply)

        77%        Qualitative statements about market conditions
        73%        Trend information that may impact the business of
                   your company
        57%        Industry specific information
        55%        Quantitative information on business measures
                   and/or assumptions
        50%        Estimates or forecasts of factors that may drive
                   your earnings but not all factors that might be in
                   your internal financial forecast
        45%        Qualitative statements about high-level performance
                   measures
         6%        Other

SECTION 3 (Those who said they do not provide earnings guidance)

3.1  Do you provide non-earnings guidance that may assist analysts in
     arriving at their estimates? (Check all that apply)

        80%        Qualitative statements about market conditions
        69%        Trend information that may impact the business of
                   your company
        58%        Industry specific information
        51%        Quantitative information on business measures
                   and/or assumptions
        51%        Qualitative statements about high-level performance
                   measures
        49%        Estimates or forecasts of factors that may drive
                   your earnings but not all factors that might be in
                   your internal financial forecasts
         9%        Other

3.2  If you do not currently provide earnings guidance, when did you
     stop?

        57%        Never provided earning guidance
        28%        Over 12 months ago
         9%        In the past six months
         3%        In the past 12 months
         3%        No response

SECTION 4:  Demographics of respondents

4.1  What is your company's market cap size?

        17%        Over $10 billion
         9%        $5 to $10 billion
        29%        $1.5 to $4.9 billion
        27%        $500 million to $1.49 billion
        14%        $100 to $400 million
         4%        Under $100 million

4.2  On what exchange is your company listed?

        63%        NYSE
        34%        Nasdaq
         1%        AMEX
         1%        Foreign
         1%        Other

4.3  How many analysts currently cover your company?

         1%        Over 50
         1%        41-50
         3%        31-40
        11%        21-30
        31%        11-20
        51%         1-10
         2%        None