I am currently a Level 2 CFA candidate managing my investments through Questrade. I have been managing my assets for a little over a year and am now looking to become more active. I was wondering if anyone could recommend some good analyst’s reports that I can access online without becoming a brokerage client. Currently I have access to Morningstar reports through Questrade, but I would like to add a second perspective. I was thinking of using Zacks, but most of the reviews I have read have been negative. I am willing to pay for quality research, but obviously I would not like to spend an arm and a leg. Please let me know your thoughts.
I opened a brokerage account with TD Ameritrade just to get the free research. You can get the research without even funding the account or trading. Pretty sweet deal.
TD Ameritrade provides reports from Credit Suisse and Standard & Poor’s (as well as research from a handful of firms of that no-one has ever heard of).
I typically take the available to public research with a grain of salt. However I keep hearing AFer’s raving about your research. Do you have any outlooks on Bidu?
BIdu is a tough for me, as I hear good arguments on both directions all the time.
…no idea on Baidu…but given i see a P/E north of 30+ it normally tells me i can’t do it unless i had some serious insight…which I donn’t…
i like Google tbh…they’re innovative and they aren’t afraid to try new things that help improve the lives of people…but no special knowledge on this company for me either…baidu i believe tries to be like google in china by essentially copying their work (similar trends across tech industry)…perhaps that works better…idk…
No jokes man. We need to hear the research troof! Free research from a discount broker will only separate one from their precious capital. We need frankie and his team of HCB to save us! Bring on some DCFin on the Buyside.
I find sell side research to be annoying to read, for the most part. Just a bunch of people stuffing wierd metrics into a report with a bunch of readily available public information and then changing their ratings after new public info comes out.
I used to read it more when I had ready access via Thomson One Banker but then realized that I didn’t make any decisions off of it.
I’d be a terrible sell side analyst. I’d probably be constantly bitching about how useless my job was.
^I’m in SS research and there is some truth to what you are saying, but there still is a lot of value depending on which firm’s research/analysts you look at.
The part we provide the best value at my firm is really just getting PM’s/buyside analysts up-to-date on what is going on with the company. A lot of them simply don’t have the time to look at everything.
SS Firms with considerably more resources and industry talent (ex/ former physicians or surgeons for med device stocks) that can really dig into how the stuff works and get other physician opionions are extremely valuable.
^I’m in SS research and there is some truth to what you are saying, but there still is a lot of value depending on which firm’s research/analysts you look at.
The part we provide the best value at my firm is really just getting PM’s/buyside analysts up-to-date on what is going on with the company. A lot of them simply don’t have the time to look at everything.
SS Firms with considerably more resources and industry talent (ex/ former physicians or surgeons for med device stocks) that can really dig into how the stuff works and get other physician opionions are extremely valuable.
Agree…just don’t trust the buy/sell or targets though…the targets from my experience is almost always overly optimistic…
Very true. Another industry that comes to mind is energy, but specifically E&P and independents. I know a couple of firms that have in house petroleum engineer/resevoir techs, etc. to help make sense of all the technical data and turn out better reports.
For some companies, think consumer staples, retailers, and industries that require less specialized knowledge, you probably get less value added.
I’m guessing you’re not on the buy-side. Most buy-side analysts never believe the price targets anyway. They want to insight of the SS analyst and what they’ve heard from mgmt and consultants more than anything else