Who's Calling?

• Position: Brief Article

There's a major increase in the number of corporations opening their analyst conference calls to individual investors and the media, according to a survey from the National Investor Relations Institute. The NIRI survey shows that of the 83 percent of companies that currently conduct conference calls, 82 percent allow individual investors real-time access, as compared to 29 percent in a survey conducted just two years ago. And another 7 percent plan to do so within the year.

In addition, 74 percent offer the media access to their calls, compared to 14 percent in the prior survey. "The most astounding finding is that 48 percent of the companies that conduct conference calls are now...