How useful are company visits in learning about a company's future projects?
Company visits can be an essential part on getting in person, on location qualitative insights vs. quantitative analysis -from afar. Company visits in person allow for the personal connection and evaluation on how conservative or not, the firm is. This along with other nuances, impressions impossible to asses by phone or through research. With my US/EU/ASIA long multicultural background I can also attempt to assess the likelihood of legitimacy, integrity and more around the company and its management. But it would be a mistake to conclude that "the more visits the better". Further this has been contained of late due to the Covit-19 pandemic. Realize one only needs a few good ideas a year to make a big investor performance difference...too many visits can dilute or even confuse all this. Also, sometimes a company which is not so good but getting better can be a good choice discovered through a visit, vs. a great company (at high valuation) which may be loosing part of its allure can be a less attractive investor choice. Further a company visit can also mislead one due to polished answers.
I.e. sometimes a visit can result in the wrong impression or outright being mislead...or getting too close to mgt. A risk I have found over the years to be a delicate balance requiring long experience. I always mention at the outset to any visit in person or by phone to conducted all in English that I operate on an international standard and will point out at my website any outright misleading statement...as I have in the past. (January 2 2022).