Include ESG evaluation in investment recommendations

WHEN investors evaluate whether to buy a company's shares, most consider traditional metrics such as earnings, return on equity and dividends. When presenting investment recommendations, analysts too tend to rely on such numerical parameters for their "buy'' or "sell'' calls, possibly with the addition of discounted cash flow analysis or an evaluation of the company's cash flows.

Few, however, incorporate another equally important dimension into their assessments - the company's standard of corporate governance. Yet experience and history have shown that major corporate failures occur often because of lapses in governance. This is a gap which should be addressed as there is…