Working in Equity Research for a Ratings Agency
(Chimp, 15
Points)
on 1/2/13 at 5:15am
Hi, I've spent the past 2 years in an Aerospace Equity Research role in an investment bank. Next week I've got an interview for a similar coverage role but at a ratings agency. Does anyone know what the main differences in the 2 roles would be?
Thankyou






The obvious difference would
The obvious difference would be that ratings agencies do not rate the stocks but the debt issued by the company and hence a focus on the debt story and not the equity story... It sounds like you have a lot to cover for next week, best of luck...
ITM: The obvious difference
The obvious difference would be that ratings agencies do not rate the stocks but the debt issued by the company and hence a focus on the debt story and not the equity story... It sounds like you have a lot to cover for next week, best of luck...
Ratings agencies DO issue equity reports, in fact very similar to the typical sell-side reports put out by banks. Looks like you have a lot to learn as well.
To answer OP, not sure how the interview process or job would differ... I imagine it would be largely similar.
The main difference is the
The main difference is the rating agencies will have a larger group of people working on each report, but will issue reports very infrequently (maybe once per year or so). However, each report will be very in depth.
In sell-side equity research, reports are often done by fewer people, oftentimes one or two, and issued very frequently (every time there is an earnings announcement or business development), but the reports don't go too deep; they're typically only a couple pages long.
I would imagine pay, prestige, and quality are better on the sell-side (assuming you work for a known bank), but that is mostly just speculation.
"Well that's even more than less than unhelpful." - Jack Sparrow
the only rating agency that
the only rating agency that has an equity research division is S&P. given S&P does not have a brokerage arm I could not see how this unit would be as profitable compared to that at an ib. i would imagine this would mean lower pay.
Thanks guys, appreciated
Thanks guys, appreciated