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(Corrects company name in paragraph 15 to InvestorAwarenessIndex.com, not InvestorAwareness.com)

By Emily Chasan

NEW YORK, Oct 19 (Reuters) - In valuing companies' stock prices and evaluating their managers' credibility, investors are increasingly looking not at what companies say, but how they say it.

While many investors and analysts say the numbers tell the whole story, some are finding that looking at the ways companies interact with investors can help them separate out the ones with better quality financials or forecast which ones are going to be more highly valued and traded.

How a company issues earnings reports, whether it gives regular forecasts to investors, how well-staffed its investor relations division is -- all can be factors in making investment decisions.

"The big question comes down to: how clearly does the company explain the basis for its results?" said Fred Dickson, director of retail research at D.A. Davidson & Co in Lake Oswego, Oregon.

"Occasionally we'll get a really opaque report, and you look at that and say there wasn't a lot of clarity. When you see a number that just pops out ... there may be a lot of uncertainty there," Dickson added.

Dickson said he looks at whether the company puts a chief executive or chief operating officer with real knowledge of the business on the conference calls and whether a company provides forecasts when evaluating a company.

But even the timing of company announcements can help investors identify better companies, some say.

Howard Dresner, a consultant and former chief strategy officer at performance management software maker Hyperion Solutions Corp., believes companies that report earnings earlier in the earnings reporting period have better quality numbers.

Under U.S. securities rules, companies have 35 days after the quarter ends to report their earnings. Some companies take their time, but others don't and Dresner says that matters.

"The organizations that report earlier seem to be better run and seem to have greater valuations in the stock market," Dresner said.

"There's a strong correlation with real transparency in the organization ... if you have a standard set of processes, good discipline, and lots of visibility, when you close the books there's not a lot of debate in how that comes about."

Alcoa Inc (AA.N), the aluminum maker well known for being among the first companies to report results during every earnings period, is an example, Dresner says.

The stock, which is a member of the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI is "a real bellwether," Dresner said.

"They announce before anyone else and one must ask why and how they do that," Dresner said. "It's a readiness assessment. When you ask a company how much time is spent in meetings debating the numbers, the answer should be zero."