On Alert
Complementing NYSE MAC Advisors is the automated NYSE MAC Alerts system, which delivers real-time updates about not only stock price and volume swings and unusual pre- and post-market trading activity, but also key developments such as rating changes, earnings announcements, additions and deletions to major indices, M&A transactions and management changes.
Powered by Dow Jones News, NYSE MAC Alerts cater to the issuer, as opposed to the trader community. Investor-relations officers, CFOs and other executives can build customized watch lists for their stocks and those of their peer group and have personalized alerts sent to their desktops or wireless devices.
For example, the system can flag large block trades based on user-determined volume thresholds. In fact, explains Molloy, nearly 20 different types of alerts are available, not just for an issuer’s own stock but for as many as 24 additional ticker symbols, including non-NYSE-listed stocks. And users can set and adjust thresholds at any time. By year end, NYSE plans to add alerts related to moves in the options market, technical trading analysis and economic indicators such as housing market stats and gross domestic product.
Users create their customized alerts through NYSEnet.com, a password-protected Website for listed companies. This site’s advanced online tools provide real-time, proprietary market information and deliver insights into a company’s distinctive trading activity and institutional share-ownership. This comprehensive dashboard of information, which comes at no cost to NYSE-listed issuers, enhances transparency and keeps issuers connected to the market. NYSEnet, explains Molloy, offers multiple users per issuer the resources for timely and insightful communication with investors, board members and senior management. NYSE MAC is the latest addition to that array of resources.
“With the proliferation of available data, we wanted to enable our customers to streamline information so that they receive only those alerts most important to them,” adds Molloy.
Customer Control
To develop the alerts, the NYSE worked with customers to determine needs, and with partners to maximize the capabilities of this offering. Along with Cunningham, one of the first users in the test pilot was Regina Nethery, Humana Inc.’s (HUM) vice president of investor relations. “It’s terrific for getting my attention when I’m multitasking, like so many of us have to, and alerting me to something happening with my stock, or a competitor’s, that I need to be aware of. I don’t have to stop to look at my screen all the time; an e-mail will trigger me to stop and go look at the activity that I’ve defined as important,” says Nethery, who gets the alerts via e-mail on her PC, or Blackberry when she’s not at her desk. She adds that it’s “a very helpful tool particularly when I’m on the road and I’ve got 10 minutes between meetings.”
The feature she says she likes most is the product’s flexibility. “I can set one level for my own stock, a slightly higher level for my peers, even a third level for another group of peers,” Nethery explains. “And when the markets get crazy and I’m getting a lot of alerts, I can scale it back, then ramp it up when the market settles down. You can turn it off and on at your discretion.”
IR Officers get personalized alerts on their desktops or wireless devices.
Cunningham agrees: “It’s a very flexible system, and that’s one of the beauties of it. It is a real-time communications center that allows me to provide management with the most current news on our company as well as peer companies, and that’s a great tool to have. I’m never caught off guard by market-moving developments. This is especially important when I’m interacting with shareholders.”
NYSE MAC was rolled out as a pilot to issuers who participated in the test program and is now expanding to the broad universe of NYSE-listed companies. Going forward, says Molloy, NYSE MAC will be periodically enhanced with new tools and services so that companies are provided the most current market-intelligence technology at their fingertips. NYSE MAC uses a search engine and real-time data feed developed by SunGard Data Systems, which also fully hosts the service, providing maintenance and support and ensuring 24-7 availability. “The product has improved continuously since the pilot program,” says Cunningham, who recommends it to other NYSE companies. “It is as robust a service that listed companies can get. I find it very useful, very efficient and very cost-effective. It’s perfect for my needs.”
This article includes information that may constitute “forward-looking statements,” as it is based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Please visit the cautionary note to read more.