My plan for breaking into finance sector

Equity research like those MAS research scheme kind of buy sell target price reports?

No wonder the quality is sub par, no finance experience also just take a CFA can also be analyst write reports.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Equity research like those MAS research scheme kind of buy sell target price reports?

No wonder the quality is sub par, no finance experience also just take a CFA can also be analyst write reports.

CFA for show only, the analysis is just stats 101 like PE, PB, ROE ratios, peer comparison, standard deviation or key assumptions into DCF calculator.

Anybody with O Level Maths can do up the reports they have… Sell side analyst are more like IR to clients, their job is to come out with nice report & present a good investment story to convince clients to trade and invest more with their brokerage/bank/fund manager.

People who really understand businesses, have industrial contacts and know valuation are working on the buy side or in house M&A team in MNCs and consultancies.

i'm gonna be encouraging and say that it is possible, with some luck.

i graduated from SMU (just a bachelors degree, not masters) and wanted to do risk management because i'm very strong in my quantitative skills and did very well for my risk management module. but i got rejected by most banks. it was however a blessing in disguise. i got into a hedge fund as a research associate (same as analyst) and work directly under 2 portfolio managers.

with a small investment management company, i do everything from market research, to executing trades, to analyzing portfolio, to making presentations to internal committee and current/potential investors. sounds like something you'd want to do.

so do consider buy-side research. we do less rigorous analysis though.
because we trade with the sell-side brokers, we can just request research reports from them. there's no need to do in-depth analysis, just read the reports and pick out the key points.

[alwaysnforever]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

i'm gonna be encouraging and say that it is possible, with some luck.

i graduated from SMU (just a bachelors degree, not masters) and wanted to do risk management because i'm very strong in my quantitative skills and did very well for my risk management module. but i got rejected by most banks. it was however a blessing in disguise. i got into a hedge fund as a research associate (same as analyst) and work directly under 2 portfolio managers.

with a small investment management company, i do everything from market research, to executing trades, to analyzing portfolio, to making presentations to internal committee and current/potential investors. sounds like something you'd want to do.

so do consider buy-side research. we do less rigorous analysis though.
because we trade with the sell-side brokers, we can just request research reports from them. there's no need to do in-depth analysis, just read the reports and pick out the key points.

Thanks for the encouragement. I still prefer to start out with sell side research because I want to do the kind of work they do to get a better grounding on the rigour of analysis from their perspective.

I am in a tougher situation from you because I do not have a finance degree, which is why I am going to supplement with CFA, and also networking to get my foot into that area.

Originally Posted by alwaysnforever

Thanks for the encouragement. I still prefer to start out with sell side research because I want to do the kind of work they do to get a better grounding on the rigour of analysis from their perspective.

I am in a tougher situation from you because I do not have a finance degree, which is why I am going to supplement with CFA, and also networking to get my foot into that area.

Dude whatever gave you the idea that that sell side analysts do "rigorous analysis" on the companies they research?

Have you even bothered to ask your remissier to send you samples of analyst reports before? As a CIPMS and MS Financial Engineering professional, I am qualified and will tell you >90% of their analyses are marketing junk mail.

These guys mostly target retail investors & strict %AUM pension fund managers, no other fund manager or M&A specialist will take their recommendations seriously.

[alwaysnforever]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Dude whatever gave you the idea that that sell side analysts do "rigorous analysis" on the companies they research?

Have you even bothered to ask your remissier to send you samples of analyst reports before? As a CIPMS and MS Financial Engineering professional, I am qualified and will tell you >90% of their analyses are marketing junk mail.

These guys mostly target retail investors & strict %AUM pension fund managers, no other fund manager or M&A specialist will take their recommendations seriously.

I have seen some pretty detailed analyst reports, which I would assume is from the sell side, since buy side reports are not public.

Perhaps the level of analysis done differs for each company.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

i'm gonna be encouraging and say that it is possible, with some luck.

i graduated from SMU (just a bachelors degree, not masters) and wanted to do risk management because i'm very strong in my quantitative skills and did very well for my risk management module. but i got rejected by most banks. it was however a blessing in disguise. i got into a hedge fund as a research associate (same as analyst) and work directly under 2 portfolio managers.

with a small investment management company, i do everything from market research, to executing trades, to analyzing portfolio, to making presentations to internal committee and current/potential investors. sounds like something you'd want to do.

so do consider buy-side research. we do less rigorous analysis though.
because we trade with the sell-side brokers, we can just request research reports from them. there's no need to do in-depth analysis, just read the reports and pick out the key points.

hedge funds that rely on sell-side research are doomed to fail

mind revealing the name of your fund so that we can avoid it like the plague?

Originally Posted by alwaysnforever

I have seen some pretty detailed analyst reports, which I would assume is from the sell side, since buy side reports are not public.

Perhaps the level of analysis done differs for each company.

How can you even differentiate whether the reports are of substance when you have no financial and business experience at all?

Details mean nothing, I can also churn out page after pages of numbers and qualitative narration that look impressive to the layman.

Can you upload a copy of what you think is the best analyst report you have seen before so that I can have a better understanding where you are coming from?

[alwaysnforever]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

How can you even differentiate whether the reports are of substance when you have no financial and business experience at all?

Details mean nothing, I can also churn out page after pages of numbers and qualitative narration that look impressive to the layman.

Can you upload a copy of what you think is the best analyst report you have seen before so that I can have a better understanding where you are coming from?

From where I am coming from, it would be highly likely that I would have to start from the sell side. That can at least give me some exposure and give me some credibility if I were to move to buy side or anywhere else.

I would like to know if there is a much better place for me to reasonably start at that would give me the level of rigourous analysis that you mentioned.

Originally Posted by alwaysnforever

From where I am coming from, it would be highly likely that I would have to start from the sell side. That can at least give me some exposure and give me some credibility if I were to move to buy side or anywhere else.

I would like to know if there is a much better place for me to reasonably start at that would give me the level of rigourous analysis that you mentioned.

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.