The Effect of Organizers on Analysts' Forecasts: Evidence from Conference Calls in China

We inspect the impact of conference call organizers on the quality of analysts' forecasts. Organizers affect the information delivery through conference calls with the composition of audiences, the preparation of managers, and the frame of questions. Using manually collected information of conference calls in China, we discover that conference calls refine analysts' forecast quality. Further evidence indicates that brokerage firms, as the organizer of the call, significantly improve analysts' forecast quality. Specifically, brokerage firms show a positive relationship with forecast accuracy and a negative relationship with forecast dispersion. However, neither top brokerages nor star analysts show a distinct advantage in delivering information when they act as the organizer and the host.