Hi everyone. Title is explanatory. This is mostly venting. Been on buyside as an analyst 3.5 yrs now at a boutique long only covering small & micro stocks with a value style. My performance has been very good since starting on an absolute and relative basis, beating bench by 20% since starting. I have a strong batting average with my good picks outweighing bad picks and made a few big calls that have really helped our relative performance, for example pitching multiple housing names in summer 2020 and then doubling down in summer/fall 2022. I'm getting burnt out lately, getting a new idea or getting my PMs to buy in to my ideas is like pulling teeth. Specifically very frustrated because I did a ton of quality work on a company and recommended we get a starter position going into the quarter (Q4 for them fiscal year) with the thesis that it was a cheap cyclical amidst a turnaround with a call that the turnaround was going better than expected and FY guidance would be well above street. I literally sent them an email or two a week for two months on this stock along with pitching it in meetings, pounded the table hardest since being here. PM didn't buy it because they didn't like the "chart". Company reported and the stock is up +50% in the past week. I'm just deflated and have no motivation after this. This is not the first time this has happened, it's been a pretty repetitive thing. Hey I want a building products company, look at XYZ shitty commodity building products company when we passed on XYZ building products company I pitched six months ago that has crushed the industry. Or I put a SELL on a name for 6 months and we don't do anything due to PM's biases and then it sells off -50% and now the other PM wants to blow out of it. I am just frustrated from making good calls that don't get listened to.
I've been very passionate about investing but getting burnt out. How do you get your motivation back? What would you guys do?
Bump. Interested in people's advice
From what I've seen, that's a good sign to leave the org/team. I've seen plenty of smart brilliant easy to work with people jump ship by intent or by force due to misalignment with PM. Best of luck with whatever decision you end up making.
I was in the same boat. I left, best decision ever
Leave/start your own fund
For sure can be frustrating. Of course, if you're burnt out and want to go to a different firm you can try to leave. Though ask yourself, apart from these instances, how is the job/team/culture/environment in general. In the meantime, can you talk to your PMs more directly? While it definitely does not completely alleviate the frustration at times, when these situations come up for me (I'm sure this is very common, just the degree to which it happens varies) I just remember that I'm being paid to make recommendations. If the PM wants to put them on sure, if not, I'm try to not lose much sleep over it. This is especially true outside a HF 2/20 structure in a highly diversified long only management fee only structure. So long as you're being compensated well and not punished that's really all that matters. Heck, at the large asset managers, you often don't even necessarily know what is going in the book or is coming out (I'm sure some hedge funds are the same way too). So the fact you have some line of sight and direct influence is already a step up, at least in regards to that aspect of the job.
This is a great take OP. I'm at a boutique LO as well (for just a little bit longer, I'm leaving for unrelated reasons), and this has happened a few times over the last year with a few picks doubling while our fund is on the sidelines.
However, in all other aspects, my PM is fantastic. Regardless of which direction my picks go, I don't get flak from him. I am treated with respect and other ideas are given a fair shake. Sometimes he says no and he's right, sometimes it's the inverse. Have there been instances where you pick a long, they say no, and then it turns our you're wrong? Oftentimes it swings both ways.
Ultimately it sucks, but we're paid for solid idea flow. Oddly enough the performance of our picks doesn't matter as much.
I know it feels like a slap in the face, but if everything else is clicking then don't feel like you have to leave. Maybe sit down with your PM for a heart-to-heart. If this is important to you then you likely need to get to a point where you're running your own money.
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