Front Office Careers - Investment Analyst
Table of Contents
- Credit Analysts
- Investment Analyst
- Investment Banking
- Market Risk Management
- Operational Risk Management
- Quantitative Analyst
- Sales/Client Services
- Structured Finance
What is an Investment or Equity/Fixed Income Analyst?
In general, Analysts evaluate all companies including financial institutions, which are listed in the stock exchange markets, in order to make buy/ sell/ hold recommendations to external investors or fund managers internally.
An Analyst’s daily responsibilities may include:
- Reading materials/ newspaper to get information on companies performance/ news
- Evaluating other stock markets like NY or London to see sector influence
- Visiting companies to get real-time information
- Send reports to other Analysts and fund managers (for sell side Analysts, they will have to publish reports for investors).
Analysts may travel overseas to attend conferences and make visits to invested companies.
Individuals including Analysts, Traders and Investment bankers can provide the potential skill set required for these roles. On occasion, Accountants are viewed as potential candidates if they have investment interest. Even quantitative candidates can potentially be suitable for Quantitative Portfolio Managers. Financial Analysts or Accountants from commercial firms could be potentially suitable for these roles as well.
Background
- Strong financial skill set
- Ability to evaluate P/L reports and balance sheets to determine buy/ sell status of these companies stock
- Keen interest in investment – Analysts are encouraged to invest themselves if they can
Career Path
- As a Sell Side Analyst, one would be expected to be a Senior/Publishing Analyst who would have acquired 3-5 years research experience. For those who have no actual experience, they may be supporting Senior Analysts in evaluation and modeling of stocks performance rather than publishing notes for investors. They could potentially move to Buy Side as Investment Analyst if they perform well. It is very seldom that Sell-Side Analysts move into a Fund Manager role, this is because investment experience is a primary requirement.
- As for Buy Side Investment Analyst, it is not required to publish notes and most of the time, they would be pursuing Fund Manager roles or to be an Investment Manager in pension funds of commercial companies.
- Fund Management is the usual outcome of this career path as this can be a long term role.
