5 Reasons Why Companies Care About Their Stock Prices

Typically, companies issue shares to the public and receive their money up front. Investors then either make profits or suffer losses depending on the performance of the stock. The original company that issues the stock does not participate in any profits or losses resulting from these transactions because this company has no vested monetary interest. This is what confuses many people. Why then does a company, or more specifically its management, care about a stock's performance in the secondary market when this company has already received its money in the IPO? Read on to find out.

The first and most obvious reason why those in management care about the stock market is that they typically have a monetary interest in the company. It's not unusual for the founder of a public company to own a significant number the outstanding shares, and it's also not unusual for the management of a company to have salary incentives or stock options tied to the company's stock prices. For these two reasons, management acts as stockholders and thus pay attention to their stock price.

Too often investors forget that stock means ownership. The job of management is to produce gains for the shareholders. Although a manager has little or no control of share price in the short run, poor stock performance could, over the long run, be attributed to mismanagement of the company. If the stock price consistently underperforms the shareholders' expectations, the shareholders are going to be unhappy with the management and look for changes.

In extreme cases shareholders can band together and try to oust current management in a proxy fight. To what extent shareholders can control management is debatable. Nevertheless, executives must always factor in the desires of shareholders since these shareholders are part owners of the company.

Another main role of the stock market is to act as a barometer for financial health. Analysts are constantly scrutinizing companies and reflecting this information onto its traded securities. Because of this, creditors tend to look favorably upon companies whose shares are performing strongly. This preferential treatment is in part due to the tie between a company's earnings and its share price. Over the long term, strong earnings are a good indication that the company will be able to meet debt requirements. As a result, the company will receive cheaper financing through a lower interest rate, which in turn increases the amount of value returned from a capital project.

Unlike private companies, publicly traded companies stand vulnerable to takeover by another company if they allow their share price to decline substantially. This exposure is a result of the nature of ownership in the company. Private companies are usually managed by the owners themselves, and the shares are closely held. If private owners don't want to sell, the company cannot be taken over.

Publicly-traded companies, on the other hand, have shares distributed over a large base of owners who can easily sell at any time. To accumulate shares for the purpose of takeover, potential bidders are better able to make offers to shareholders when they are trading at lower prices. For this reason, companies would want their stock price to remain relatively stable, so that they remain strong and deter interested corporations from taking them.

Finally, a company may aim to increase share simply to increase their prestige and exposure to the public. Managers are human too, and like anybody they are always thinking ahead to their next job. The larger the market capitalization of a company, the more analyst coverage the company will receive. Essentially, analyst coverage is a form of free publicity advertising and allows both senior managers and the company itself to introduce themselves to a wider audience.

For these reasons, a company's stock price is a matter of concern. If performance of their stock is ignored, the life of the company and its management may be threatened with adverse consequences, such as the unhappiness of individual investors and future difficulties in raising capital.