(BFM Stock Exchange) – Often neglected, telephone conferences held by companies with analysts following results are teeming with interesting or even crucial indications. This can lead an action to turn suddenly. The last season of the results has demonstrated it again with several examples.

The semi -annual results season has been still related to a real avalanche for investors. No less than 27 CAC 40 groups published their half -yearly results last week.

This did not allow a lot of time to managers and other market operators to listen to the various telephone conferences with analysts, organized in the wake of publications. Especially since these “calls” remain very time -consuming, sometimes exceeding 1.5 hours (like those held by L’Oréal and Totalenergies during this season of results) or even 2 hours.

This is harmful, because these telephone conferences often constitute an opportunity for managers on a group quoted to deliver interesting indications for the rest of the year, or even crucial.

To the point that these “calls” sometimes completely eclipse the results previously published and can cause a brutal reversal of the action of the company in question. Several examples still illustrated it very well, during the last season of the results.

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Publicis weighed down by his own comments

Publicis learned at its expense that investors could focus on apparently unwilling details. The advertising group had delivered, in mid-July, a good publication from all angles. The growth in comparable data was established at 5.9% in the second quarter, much above expectations (4.5%) and especially its competitors.

The company explained then that it had outpected, on average over the quarter, the growth of its rivals of 800 base points (8 percentage points). Publicis had, in passing, noted its growth forecast for 2025.

However, despite this copy which co -hidden all the right boxes, the action had suddenly turned over during the “call” held at 10 am by management with the analysts. After losing almost 4% at the start of the session, the action ended with a withdrawal of 6.65%.

Analysts have experienced certain difficulties to explain this reversal of trend.

Some estimated that the increase in the growth objective was too timid. Others pointed out elements communicated by the company during the conference. In fact, the action had almost started to win when the CEO, Arthur Sadoun, had delivered indications on Sapient, a subsidiary of digital transformation and digital consulting of Publicis, and which represents around 15% of the income of the company.

The manager explained that Sapient would still show a negative performance in the second half, online with that of the first, despite a slight improvement in the second quarter.

These same analyst also mentioned the fact that the management of the company had underlined “the disruption (upheaval, note) of the advertising and communication sector”, even if the management had assured that this “disruption” favored the group.

In a note published some time after the results of the company, the UBS bank wrote that “the risks linked to artificial intelligence (AI) seem to slow investments in the general agency sector, and at Publicis in particular”.

“If we recognize that new technologies have increased uncertainty, we are not convinced by the arguments according to which AI represents a major risk for the organic growth of Publicis, especially in the next two years,” nevertheless argued the Swiss bank.

Dassault systems and a cash trajectory which remains across the market of the market

Dassault Systèmes constitutes a school case. The specialist in computer -assisted manufacturing and design software (CFAO) had published semi -annual results qualified as “decent” by ODDO BHF, notably with growth greater than expectations.

The action had increased before there again to turn suddenly downwards during the conference call held at 10 a.m. The title had finished on a fall of 8.38%.

Two elements were pointed out to explain this fall. First of all, the financial director, Rouven Bergmann, had indicated that the group was tabling on a treasury flow sharply drop in the third quarter, and, more broadly, stable over the whole of 2025, while investors hoped better.

“What was notable in this conference call was the commentary on the management of the expected decrease of 120 million euros in the cash flow in the third quarter compared to the same period of the previous year and the fact that, in general, the cash of the second semester will continue to suffer, because the company records contracts with payments in advantageous cash (for customers, note) which will be perceived 2026 “will summarize Deutsche Bank.

Another point that had been able to tense the market: Rouven Bergmann had indicated that Dassault Systèmes had consolidated on almost the entire second quarter a small acquisition, the German Ascon Quebe, whose acquisition had only been announced in early July. Which had been able to raise questions about growth performance in the second quarter of 2025. Is there a significant impact linked to this acquisition?

“We cannot quantify this impact which must actually be weak since the company has around forty employees. But again that casts doubt on the doubt and still gives arguments to the ‘Bears'” (investors who bet on a drop in action, editor’s note), “said an analyst.

L’Oréal and its “beauty routine” of the results

Fortunately, these telephone conferences can, conversely, reassure investors and switch a title in the green.

If necessary with L’Oréal. On the evening of July 29, the cosmetics group had published half -yearly results, a priori without much brilliance. The growth of the second quarter was 2.4% in comparable data, less than consensus, housed at 2.9% according to UBS.

But behind these raw figures was actually hidden a fairly frank acceleration of growth, masked by “phasing” effects linked to the deployment of a new computer system of the group.

L’Oréal has implemented, since 2024, a different implementation calendar for its divisions and regions of these new IT tools. However, these new IT systems lead the company to overcome its products to its wholesalers in the area or the division where these tools are deployed.

These “phasing” effects have therefore had fairly gigantic impacts from one quarter to another, on the performance of each division of the company, and on its overall growth. Thus, in the second quarter, retired growth of these effects was in reality established at 3.7% in comparable data, after 2.6% in the first quarter.

During the conference with analysts, organized the next morning from the publication, the management had detailed these effects of “phasing” and their impacts, which had allowed analysts to have a clearer reading of the second quarter.

Point Crucial Furthermore, the Director General, Nicolas Hieronimus, had confirmed during the conference call for the forecast of the group of a 4% beauty market in 2025. Knowing that L’Oréal tends to outperform this market, this could have hoped for investors an acceleration of growth in the second semester, the first six months of the year having resulted in an increase in 3% in comparable data.

“Consumers are now turning to a beauty routine in six stages, and we have now turned to a routine of L’Oréal results in two stages (the results and the conference call, editor’s note),” joked Bank of America, in a note.

“The ‘call’ gave us more confidence in the group’s execution capacity and on an acceleration in the second half,” above all wrote the American bank.

After having opened down, the L’Oréal action had finished the session on an increase of 4%, thanks to the indications given by the management during the conference call.

Tesla action always suspended from Musk’s statements

Obviously, this “critical” aspect of “calls” with analysts is not found only with French groups. Also in the United States, the conference call is very important. In the case of Apple, the prospects for the current quarter are always communicated during this “call” by the financial director (Luca Maestri then now Kevan Parekh).

The best example is still Tesla. Often the comments of the director general Elon Musk import much more than the content of the quarterly results of the electric car manufacturer.

This was still the case during this season. Concretely, the market did not have much to make accounts published by the manufacturer in the second quarter, this although the company posted a plunge of its revenues of 16% in terms of automotive division, and 12% on the group level, the highest withdrawn for more than a decade.

In post-market exchanges, Tesla action was hardly evolving. But she suddenly won when Musk warned, during the “call”, that several difficult quarters were still waiting for Tesla.

This due to the end of support measures in the United States to buy electric vehicles, the manager explained. The recently approved Donald Trump finance law provides for the abolition from September 30 of tax credits of 7,500 dollars for “clean vehicles”.

Elon Musk had estimated that the end of this tax aid for households was likely to pose difficulties in Tesla until the group rises in power and deploys its Robotaxis services on a large scale, which is planned for the second part of 2026.

UBS underlines that these comments show that Tesla’s fundamentals are increasingly faced with “challenges”. “The evolution of the action is always a fight between what Tesla could be and what it is,” sums up the bank, not actually wrapped by the value (its course objective, at 215 dollars is more than 30% at the current level of the title).

Ultimately, these examples shows that wise investors cannot be content to read simply the publication of a company, because it only gives part of the elements necessary for the appreciation of its results. And therefore that a parcel vision of its performance.

“The problem is when the company keeps for the conference call for the crucial indications for understanding Equity Story ‘(the investment thesis on an action) because it puts us in the carpet in the first interpretations that we can make of the results”, plague, on this last point, an analyst. “The call conference becomes more important than the results,” he concludes.