Types of Investment Professionals
(What Are The Different Job Opportunities?)

Sell Side Firm (Creates And Sells Proprietary/Primary Research)

Clients are institutional investors (Hedge fund, Mutual funds,
Pension funds)

What are the different job opportunities?

Research

Sales

Trading

Investment Banking

Corporate Finance

Compliance

Back office/Other
Types of Investment Professionals
(What Are The Different Job Opportunities?)


Buy Side Firm (Buys And Uses Primary Research To Manage Investments)

Research analyst clients are internal PM, Private/High net worth managers,
and Brokers

Portfolio manager clients are usually individual investors in mutual funds,
corporate accounts or high net worth individuals

What are the different job opportunities?

Research

Trading

Portfolio Manager

Sales

Compliance

Back office/Other
Who Are Your Clients As A Sell Side Analyst?
(What Are They Like?)



Mutual Funds (Pain In Butt On Payment And Feedback)

Concerned about consultants, compliance, etc.

Long only

Closet indexers

Must own something

Herd mentality

Slow investment process with multiple committees
Pension Funds (Limited Dealings With)

Liability matching

Asset allocation
Hedge Funds (Quick Feedback And Payment Or Termination)

How do I make money, period

Timeframe

Types
What Do Clients Want From Sell Side Research?
(What Will Get You Paid?)

Highly Valued
 Independent survey/research
 Independent thought
 Unique company or industry insights
 Access to management/ Industry conferences
 Knowledge of individual companies and industries
 Responsive to clients needs

Medium Value
 Specific investment idea
 Quality of earnings estimates

Low Value
 Sales Coverage
 Portfolio Advice
 Ratings/Stock opinion
 Valuation
Skill Sets Of A Sell Side Analyst
(What Do I Need To Be Able To Do To Succeed?)

Quantitative (Bernstein)

Financial

Accounting

Technical

Qualitative (Alethia)

Ability to change on the fly (My first meeting)

Detective (Mosaic Theory)

Problem Solving

Time Management

Presentation/Marketing

Industry Knowledge

Personable

Psych
What Is The Life Of A Sell Side Analyst Like
(It Revolves Around Earnings Season)

30 -50% Travel/Client Calls

On the road 8+ days a month

Comes in bunches

Research travel

Customer meetings

20-40% Writing/Models

Maintenance research (Useless! Everyone does it. No one pays for it)

Initiation reports (What gets you in the door)

Actionable research

20-40% Research (What You Get Paid For)

Actionable research (Find a Change)

Stock Picking (Why ratings are garbage)

Modeling

Valuation

10-20% Management, Compliance, etc.
How Do You Succeed As A Sell Side analyst
(You Must Add Value)

Be Right On Your Research

50% is considered good

Be Early/First With Your Research

Have 100’s of people calling on them

Only pay top 3 (60% to 1st, 30% to 2nd, 10% to rest)

Be Actionable And Make Them Money Based On Your Research

Find confirm Success/Failure with strategic roadmap or strategic initiatives

Independent Thought - Staying Away From The Herd And Group Think

Presenting the contra case.

Taking a stand/being accountable

Things to remember at clients

They can’t trail for long. People will pull money

Outside influences (issue with Ivy league fund and Enron)

They are swamped with research

A large percentage of them are inexperienced
How Do You Get Paid?
(Both The Company And The Individual)

Sell Side

Firm

Research

Sales

Trading

Buy Side

Research

Portfolio manager

Sales

Trading
Why Do Clients Pay Me?

Information based on fundamental research

Find the change to with strategic roadmap or strategic initiatives

Customer, Competitor and end market surveys

Contacts in industry

Why is this important?
How Did You Get Involved In This Field
(High Risk. High Reward)

Sell Side

Wall Street

Regional

Non traditional

Buy Side

Research

Trading

Portfolio management
Interview Advice
(What You Need To Do At A Minimum)

Know something about the company you are interviewing with

Show that you can add value.

Show that you can think on your feet.

Show that you can solve problems.

Convince me that I want to work with you in a high stress, high pressure
situation for an extended period of time.

Don’t lie (especially on something I can check on)