Key Dates

KEY DATES appear to the bottom right of the entry in a small panel like this one:-

Key dates are particularly important for fast-growing smaller companies, which usually have their moment in the sun around the time of their preliminary and interim results. The AGM date is also of vital importance as the chairman frequently uses the meeting to make a statement about future prospects.

A company growing at say 30% per annum on an historic PER of 20 (a PEG of 0.66) would attract immediate investment interest when it announced another year of 30% growth, coupled with an optimistic forecast. The historic PER would then cease to be of real interest and
attention would focus on the prospective PER for the year ahead. If the consensus forecast was for another 30% growth in earnings, the prospective PER would fall to about 13 (provided the share price remained constant). For a company growing at 30% per annum, this would clearly
be a bargain and the shares would almost certainly rise sharply.

Of course, the shares were cheap a month before the results. However, the announcement turned fancy into fact and the focus of interest switched immediately to the following year.

This principle applies to all companies, but is exaggerated with fast growing smaller companies.

Most of the research material and press comment on them is relatively sparse except when they are announcing their results and having their moment in the sun.

The ex-dividend dates are of particular interest to income funds and income-conscious investors.