The Book

Most equity research analysts learn their trade on the job, by apprenticing under a senior analyst or portfolio manager. However, these senior producers often have little time to train new analysts, and those who do have the time may not have developed research skills worth emulating (after all, over half of money managers underperform their benchmarks). Furthermore, in modern day equity research, analysts without a mentor don’t have time to learn on their own through trial and error because the stakes are too high.

Best Practices for Equity Research Analysts offers equity research analysts the practical knowledge and tasks required to master their profession. James Valentine, a former Morgan Stanley award-winning analyst and Associate Director of Research, explores the key concepts today’s competitive analysts need to know, providing practical career development advice for buy-side and sell-side research analysis. Conveniently organized for use as a learning tool and everyday on-the-job reference, Best Practices for Equity Research Analysts covers the five vital areas of the equity research analyst’s role.

Five Vital Areas

• Identifying and monitoring critical factors
• Creating and updating financial forecasts
• Using valuation to derive price targets
• Making stock recommendations
• Communicating stock ideas

Clear, concise explanations with over 50 stand-alone Best Practice exhibits serve as road maps to becoming a top equity research analyst on the buy-side or sell-side. These strategies, intended to generate alpha, have been collected from leading professionals in the field.

Best Practices Include:

• Developing a strategy to manage time and information flow, as part of building the optimal information hub.
• Identifying and developing proprietary sources of content for generating great stock ideas.
• Learning critical interviewing skills including reading important body language cues.
• Utilizing the FaVeS™ framework to ensure each stock call has value.
• Learning to avoid the most common psychological mistakes made by analysts.
• Utilizing the ENTER™ and CASCADE™ frameworks to develop communication that build a strong reputation with portfolio managers.
• Identifying the most common conflicts of interest faced by analysts and methods to make the most ethically sound decisions.