Research

CFA General
#1

Has anyone ever compared a buy-side research report and a sell-side research report of the same company? A bit different.

#2

Information barriers?

#3

It’s expected.

#4

question is - which one’s price target actually monetizes. i’m betting the buy side.

#5

I’ve done both. Buy-side cuts to the chase while sell-side is usually lengthier and a bit standardized (valuation, financials, rating and risks). The biggest difference though is that a buy-side report is usually (hopefully) ahead of the curve, whereas on the sell-side we usually chase the market (either on the upside or the downside…)

#6

nobody cares about price target anyway on the buy side they want to know where the market is going in terms of trends / technologies, it’s their job to figure out a price target rating is 100x more important than price target

#7

memalos Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I’ve done both. Buy-side cuts to the chase while > sell-side is usually lengthier and a bit > standardized (valuation, financials, rating and > risks). Sell-side reports need to have this because of Global Settlement and compliance issues > The biggest difference though is that a buy-side > report is usually (hopefully) ahead of the curve, > whereas on the sell-side we usually chase the > market (either on the upside or the downside…) Sad but true

#8

I remember seeing some academic research recently that looked into the accuracy of buy-side and sell-side price targets and found the SS came out slightly ahead, which is against the conventional wisdom in the industry I would say. The main difference as I would see it between the two research styles is the target audience. If you work BS and your report will be read by 2 other people on your team, then you are going to stick to the point and have quite an informal style ceteris paribus. If the BS report is being sent to multiple clients - internal and external - around the world then the report will more resemble a SS piece. SS research should be easy for you to obtain. If you don’t work in the industry then BS research will be very hard to come by. By its nature, it tends not to get published externally.