What is a Equity Research Analyst?
A research Analyst is a professional who is responsible for researching, analyzing, interpreting, documenting and presenting market data. This data is related to markets, operations, finance/accounting, economics, customers, and other field related work. A research analyst is typically very quantitative, analytical, logical, and good at managing numbers and data. The report an analyst prepares entails the examination of public records of securities of companies or industries, and often concludes with a “buy”, “sell”, or “hold” recommendation. This guide will break down the primary aspects of being an analyst in different industries.
Types of Research Analysts
Research analysts exist in almost every industry and sector but are more commonly found in some specific industries – such as financial and banking industries. Within a company, there may be many different departments, with different job titles.
The most common research analyst job titles are:
- Market Research Analyst
- Operations Research Analyst
- Economic Research Analyst
- Financial Analyst
- Equity Research Analyst
Job responsibilities of a Research Analyst
An Analyst (Financial) is primarily concerned with performing financial forecasting, evaluating operational metrics, analyzing financial data, and creating financial models and presentations to assist executive management in its decision making and reporting on the financial performance of the company.
Job responsibilities may include any or all of the following:
- Analyze past results and perform variance analysis
- Identify trends and make recommendations for improvements
- Provide analysis of trends and forecast and recommend actions for optimization
- Identify and drive process improvements, including the creation of standard and ad-hoc reports
- Use Excel functions to organize and analyze data
- Create charts, graphs, and presentations for leadership teams
- Develop recommendations to improve business operations going forward
Skills required for a Research Analyst
There are many key skills that one should have in order for them to be successful in the field of research analysis. While all research analysts have different skillsets, there are some skills and traits that nearly all Research Analysts share.
The most common found research analyst skills and personality traits are:
- Good with numbers
- Attention to detail
- Organizational skills
- Inquisitive
- Logical
- Reliable
- Ability to distil large amounts of information into specific takeaways.
Types of companies that hire Analysts
There is a broad range of industries and companies that hire analysts to perform research. Some of the most common types of companies include:
- Insurance companies
- Banks
- Governments
- Health care providers
- Pharmaceutical companies
- Marketing agencies
- Manufacturing companies
