Roles and Responsibilities
An investment analyst is a financial professional with expertise in evaluating financial and
investment information, typically for the purpose of making buy, sell and hold
recommendations for securities.
Buy-side analysts work for fund managers at mutual fund brokers and financial advisory firms
and identify investment opportunities for their firm.
Work Through spreadsheets and other forms of software, stock analysts examine the
securities of companies in various industries.
Look at the financial results, market prices, and industry factors which might affect the price
of a company’s stock.
Then use this data to try to predict the future earnings of the company and advise clients if it
is wise to buy or sell stocks in that business.
Requirements:
A bachelor’s degree in finance or business. Degrees in accounting, statistics and economics
may also be accepted. MBAs and higher degrees in math or financial disciplines prefer.
Analytical thinking – equity analysts should have extensive experience assessing financial data and
using it to make informed decisions about stock and bond performance
Market knowledge – thorough knowledge of a particular market is also an asset for equity analysts,
since this allows the analyst to consider their data in terms of the market or sector as a whole
Data modeling – equity analysts should be skilled with a variety of data-modeling techniques and
should be able to prepare reports and presentations that present useful and actionable data
Trend spotting – this role also requires the ability to notice, track, and analyze market trends and
opportunities and determine how to strategically invest to capitalize on growing or untapped sectors
Communication skills – equity analysts should be strong communicators, able to succinctly present
data and information to brokers, investors, and advisors in both verbal and written formats .
Must have worked on tools like financial services platforms (Bloomberg, Capital IQ), financial modeling
software (Quantrix, Maplesoft).
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