Quote:
Originally Posted by Unregistered
If you really are passionate in doing in-depth finanical analysis,valuation and modelling, there really are only a few avenues that you can go for and sell-side is definitely not one of them. Each has its own strengths & weaknesses:
1) Buy-side
Pro - The closest scope that you are looking for, also where the "action" is.
Con - You have close to 0% chance of being selected based on your background
2) Corporate inhouse M&A/ Strategy Dept/ Intelligence Dept
Pro - Chances of gettin in are considerably higher as they are more willing to hire fresh grads as junior executives as long as you can demonstrate you are numberically inclined and willing to work long hours
Con - If you ultimate aim is to be in a bank's FO, it will probably not be of much help
3) Corporate Treasury
Pro - Again the chances of landing a job are slightly better. Crossover to trading houses and fund management firms is quite frequent.
Con - As the key role of corporate treasury is to hedge risks, manage capital flows and optimizing WACC, there is not much equity valuation work.
4) Management Consulting
Pro - Lots of research and analytical work if you are supporting an M&A project. Opportunity to engage the brightest minds around.
Con - Tier 1 Big 3 consulting firms are notoriously hard to get into even for an MBA student from a prestigious school. You will most likley need to settle for Tier 3 / 4 smaller boutique firms that are willing to lower standards, but then the quality of their projects and clients, research methodology and consultants will of course be of lower standards.
By financial institutional (i.e. BB) standards, sell side analyst reports range from sub standard to downright abysmal, you will not get anywhere close to developing profesionally in equity analysis and valuation by joining them.
For starters, I recommend the book "Valuation" published by Mckenzie Consulting. It provides a good overview of a few common and basic industrial frameworks and best practices in use.
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based on this I would say easiest would be to get into any company (boutique more than BB for me) and work in valuation, and work my way up and finally switch over to buy side I guess.
my ultimate aim is to be a portfolio manager, but if I get stuck my whole working life doing equity analysis for the pm I wouldn't grumble.