A (...) study in the US has revealed that there is a direct link between companies’ investor relations activities and the coverage by the financial community. Based on the assumption that companies which are members of the National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI) also carry out investor relations activities, the study reveals that analysts are more interested in companies that include NIRI members among their staff. The study further revealed that the more analysts a company attracts, the higher the price/earnings ratio of its shares will be. Analyses to determine whether other factors such as profit margins or high growth affect this ratio have simply confirmed that higher ratios are due entirely to investor relations programmes.

(book) in: Bruce W. Marcus, Sherwood Lee Wallace,“New dimensions in Investor Relations – Competing for Capital in the 21st century”, 1997.