MacDougall Musings

10 Tips for Biotech Investor Script Writing

by MacDougall Team

As the biotech industry enters Q3 earnings season amidst a prevailing and uncertain bear market, ensuring your public company’s corporate story is compelling and relevant in the presence of macro headwinds is key to a successful earnings report. Given the longer time period between your company’s Q3 earnings and full year / Q4 earnings reports, it’s imperative to nail your Q3 investor script to position your company well against stated catalysts as we head into the promise of a new calendar year.

As many investors are solely focused on 2024 now, what will your equity story be one year from now? What drivers do you think will be most important for long-term outlook? How will you paint a clear picture of your company’s present and future opportunities?

Drafting the conference call earnings script is just one part of the preparation process for corporate communications and investor relations teams. The investor script provides the opportunity to share more color and perspective on what your quarterly earnings press release states, beyond the numbers. It’s critical to ensure you establish consistent messaging across your press release, conference call script and supplementary slide deck, as well as the live Q&A.

Read on for MacDougall’s top 10 tips on investor script creation:

  1. Nail down the quarter’s key messages and takeaways – know them, and repeat them; be sure to include supporting data and qualitative markers of progress against your stated objectives.
  2. Review earnings call scripts and supplemental decks emerging from your peer group earnings reports to become familiar with macro themes as it relates to market conditions and biotech industry headwinds.
  3. Don’t repeat financial information, it’s already stated in the press release.
  4. Showcase a deeper set of company executives in your prepared remarks to illustrate the breadth and depth of your leadership team and diversify company spokespeople.
  5. Ensure consistent messaging across all earnings materials, including the script, supplemental deck and Q&A, and be sure that your messaging encompasses the state of the whole organization.
  6. Create a supplemental slide deck to accompany the earnings script, as written and visual information is often better absorbed and remembered. Add this deck to your IR website so it’s available for those who may have missed the live investor call.
  7. Leverage the supplemental slide deck to visualize financial metrics and progress, and provide some longer-term context for quarterly performance.
  8. Think about pressing topics and questions that you may want to take head on in the script or reserve for the analyst Q&A, and be sure to discuss these hot areas with your team prior to the earnings date.
  9. Practice the Q&A and discuss potential questions – this can make or break a successful Earnings call and allow you to make any last-minute adjustments around tone of voice and answer any clarifying questions.
  10. Keep a close eye on your talking points and key messages as your script and supporting materials constantly evolve throughout the preparation process.

Learn how we can support your quarterly earnings communications and investor relations strategies by downloading our Investor Relations service offering.

Questions? Contact Sara Michelmore, Managing Director, Head of Investor Relations, to chat today.

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