Highlighting anomalies: Because sell-side analysts are so focused on certain companies, they’re able to pinpoint stocks that may be attractive, but overlooked, because other investors aren’t paying attention to the full story. Sell-side analysts can afford the time to really dig into a company and see, for instance, that revenue may have fallen not due to a problem with the business, but because it sold off a business unit.
What investors look to sell-side analysts for
Sell-side analysts are the line into the company for some investors. Sell-side analysts take the time to read the reports companies put out and listen into all the earnings conference calls, where the management teams discuss the performance of their company during the previous three months.
And for that reason, investors have some pretty high demands of their sell-side analysts, including the following:
Research reports: The primary product from sell-side analysts is the research report. These reports (covered in more detail in the “Examining a Sample Research Report” section, later in this chapter) are where sell-side analysts spell out everything they know about the company and communicate their findings to investors.
Instant updates: Following any big news from a company, investors expect sell-side analysts to be on top of the development. Instant updates are rapid dispatches from the sell-side analysts explaining what the takeaway from the new development is and whether it changes their opinion on the stock.
Industry analysis: Although sell-side analysts primarily concern themselves with individual companies, most recognize the importance of industry factors. Many top sell-side analysts produce an industry analysis where they look at the larger forces at play in the industry and how they could affect companies within the industry.
Spreading the word: Disseminating sell-side research
Research doesn’t do anyone any good if it’s just sitting on an investor’s shelf. Getting the word out, and sharing research ideas, are how sell-side analysts get noticed. When sell-side analysts make a name for themselves, they often draw attention to their firms. Sometimes a sell-side analyst gets so well known in an industry that companies looking to go public look to the firm as an underwriter. It’s much how real-estate agents who focus on specific neighborhoods often win many of the listings in that area.
Investment banks get out the research from their sell-side analysts in a number of ways, including through the following:
The broker network: Most of the large firms with investment banking operations — the Bank of Americas and Morgan Stanleys of the world — employ armies of brokers around the globe. These brokers provide investment help and guidance to clients. The brokers often refer to the research of sell-side analysts when making investment recommendations.
Buy-side connections: Big mutual funds and other institutions tend to have ongoing relationships with certain large investment banks. It’s a tangled relationship with the buy-side investors looking to the investment banks as a source of all sorts of services, including trading and research. Big investment banks typically forward all their research to these large customers.
Electronic distribution: As more individual investors try their hand at picking stocks themselves, there’s been increased demand for them to obtain sell-side research. Most of the large online brokerage firms, including TD Ameritrade and Charles Schwab, provide research reports from some of the big investment banking operations.
THE DANGERS OF CONFLICTS
Sell-side analysts have to walk a fine line between serving the wants of the companies going public and the demands of investors who rely on the research being accurate and truthful. This divide is so blurred that periodically an analyst or firm steps over it.
Perhaps the biggest crackdown in the failure of investment banks to preserve the integrity of their research reports came in 2003. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and other regulators penalized ten of the largest investment banks at the time for conflicts of interest between their investment banking units and their research teams. This incident is covered in more detail in Chapter 19. For now, just know that regulators found that the investment banks were more interested in currying favor with companies looking to go public, and generate big IPO fees, than providing helpful and accurate information to investors. And huge changes were made to the research business as a result. For instance, research analysts were no longer allowed to join in any pitches (including at the roadshows) to get investment banking business.
Two analysts, Jack Grubman and Henry Blodget, formerly of Salomon Smith Barney and Merrill, Lynch respectively, were personally named in the global settlement. Both were fined and permanently barred from the securities business.
Examining a Sample Research Report
Research reports aren’t exactly the kinds of things you start reading and can’t put down. J. K. Rowling probably doesn’t worry much about competing with the latest research report on IBM from a major investment bank. That said, oodles of important information about a company can be stuffed into a research report. And knowing how to read research reports has elements of both art and science.
What to look for in the document
Research reports don’t have to follow a specific formula. Analysts at different investment banks have some latitude in determining the look and feel of their reports. But more often than not, research reports follow a certain protocol of what investors expect them to look like.
Many of the research reports from major research organizations follow somewhat of a pattern that contain key elements, making them easy for investors to find information they need. Figure 3-1 is a reprint of the first page of a research report from CFRA.
Courtesy of S&P Capital IQ
FIGURE 3-1: A page of a research report from CFRA.
The main sections of a research report
Investors are busy people. They don’t have the time to read through a research report that buries the findings and disguises the analysts’ decisions. Research reports are designed to be highly functional and percolate