Best firms in Equity Research (Help Please)
Can someone give a rundown on the top ~10-15 banks / research firms (and groups too, if possible) to target for Equity Research SA 2026 recruiting. I don't have access to II so any help would be great.
Trending Content - Equity Research Forum
| FT Networking: Better To Be Direct Or Indirect? | 6 | 3w | |
| +34 | Different Types of Sell-side analysts | 6 | 5d |
| +28 | Learning more about ER | 3 | 3w |
| +28 | Best firms in Equity Research (Help Please) | 41 | 2d |
| +25 | EVR ER? | 9 | 3w |
| +23 | CFA in ER?? | 5 | 3w |
| +18 | Comp at Stifel ER? | 3 | 3w |
| +16 | Career change in mid 30s | 6 | 3w |
| +14 | Kepler Cheuvreux: What do you think? Is this a good ER firm in Europe? | 4 | 3w |
| +12 | Advice on getting internship | 2 | 3w |
Career Resources
As someone who just finished up recruiting for SA 25 and have contacts at almost every shop this is how I see it personally. Your overall brand lies a lot more with the analyst you might end up interning for and then working full-time than the bank itself, although some banks place their interns themselves so having a higher chance of having a more respected or II ranked analyst doesn't hurt. I would think about it (at least on the sell-side, buy-side firms are a bit different) like this:
Tier 1: Evercore ISI, JP Morgan, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley
These firms tend to recruit the earliest (think around April, but applications sometimes open sooner), and have the most #1 ranked II teams, as well as a lot of #2,#3 and runner ups. They tend to have the most straightforward recruiting processes for interns.
Tier 2: GS, Wolfe Research, Jeffries, Wells Fargo, Alliance Bernstein, UBS, Citi, Barclays (might be missing others)
These firms tend to recruit later (think around May-October, although some of these firms go in March-April), and have really respectable analysts with some #1 II and a lot of decent analysts to go around. Depending who your lead analyst is as well as your group you can have a pretty good time here as well. Not as prestigious in the ER space, but always can lateral to other ER positions pretty easily at least from what I see.
Tier 3: TD Cowen, Deutsche Bank, Guggenheim, BNP Paribas, SIG, Stifel, Baird, Oppenheimer
Most of these banks recruit later in the cylce as well although some are also as early as Tier 1. Respected analysts exist here for sure, but these are middle market banks so salary progression and most of the compression in the industry is happening here if you do up staying long-term. Still see people have great careers here and they seem a lot more willing to take people from less prestigious schools if you network well.
Tier 4:Everyone else (not much to add here)
Again, I think networking goes a long way in ER and you can tend to network a bit later than for IB. People at least from my experience tend to be super helpful and a lot more engaged with you if you show a bit of passion for equities. At the end of the day though, this industry is still pretty small in comparison to other divisions in finance, so I wouldn't be picky and just try and break in and then navigate your way through the industry since people will tend to favor candidates with relevant experience, that understand their coverage universe and the sell-side profession.
Thank you very much, this is really helpful. I had a couple of followup questions for you if you’re cool with answering them.
I go to a target school without much presence in ER (Brown/Dartmouth/Duke) and would love to break in to a tier 1 / 2 firm.
I plan to start networking in September - October with ER analysts/associates, do you think that is too early? If it is, when do you recommend I do so to maximize my chances of an interview?
How competitive is it to break into ER coming from a target given that I am very passionate for public equities and know my techs?
Is the sector / analyst that you’re assigned to after you get an ER SA offer completely random?
How does the referral process work in ER? Can anyone in a bank’s entire equity research division refer you? If they refer you, does the referral only count for their group or the entire division?
I thought that most ER applications went out the same time as IB, for example GS, but am I mistaken?
What do ER SA return rates usually look like?
Thanks again
Don't be close minded about the rankings system. Check out what buyside firms also recruit early as well. I know Harris Asociates, Fidelity and Dodge and Cox recruit relatively early and any of those firms are more prestigious in the equities side IMO than the banks. But maybe you don't like investing.
1) All the schools you listed definitely have some ER presence, and if not I think you can reach out based on a shallow connection like "we both went to an Ivy" or find something else in their profile that interests you like a particular industry coverage.
2) I personally think that's a bit too early IMO to start reaching out. I think I had great success networking and I reached out around Feb and Mar (if you're diversity and fit into one of those programs then it's a different story). Whatever you do, it is least optimal to reach out during earnings season because everyone will be busy as well as on weekends and Monday's. Tuesday-Thursday tends to be the sweetspot. Earnings season usually starts when the big banks announce their results so be mindful of that. Depending on the firm as well it might be more optimal to reach out a month or two before they open up apps so that there isn't this huge lag between when you reach out and when you need help to apply, so I guess find out around what times each firm specifically recruits based on forums and discussions and go from there.
3) It is still hard to break in from a target since there are so few spots and different schools do better in ER (think IU Kelley, UMass). Still traditional prestige is viewed favorably and definitely is a plus compared to other candidates. I had a tough time selling myself coming from a top LAC with little alumni in the space. I wouldn't worry to much about the techs, they are usually significantly easier than IB techs especially for internships. I would worry about people skills first and foremost, as this role is pretty client facing with really small teams, and that a lot of people are between IB and ER anyways and don't really sell themselves to well IMO.
4) I'm not completely sure about this one so I won't give a concrete answer, because it seems to be firm specific. All I would say is network with other teams associates during your SA stint and find somewhere where the team and industry are good. They're not completely random in terms of placement, they'll probably give a preference sheet and see what teams liked you and try to match based on that.
5) Depends on the firm for referrals. Some you can just put their name in, and others they have to directly refer you or can't do referrals at all (like GS unless you know a partner). Anyone from the research division can refer you, but it's most advantageous for a senior analyst or DOR or anyone high up to refer you so prioritize reaching out to those people as their referral will mean a lot more than some associate who just got hired. For SA you're recruiting for the whole division so the referrals is applicable for the whole ER department and not just a specific team, as specific teams don't just choose to hire SA's on their own.
6) Some applications are at the same time (like GS, JPM,Jeffries), some are delayed (like Evercore, UBS, Citi). Really dependent on the bank.
7) Return offer rates vary from bank to bank, but tend to be a lot less cyclical than IB, as the division are already pretty lean as is and focus on not overhiring as there isn't as much churn in the industry. I've heard anything from 100% to 80%, but of course I would really focus on your likeability and fit than anything as that will primarily determine if you get the return or not. The biggest classes of interns at the BB's tend to only have a max of like 12 people, and don't interview many in the first place. Superdays are generally in your favor and tend to be closer to 50% offer rate than 10% at a lot of IB superdays now.
All I would say is get involved in your student investment club at a high level, try and get a equities internship in the summer 25 so that you can put it on your resume and when you reach out have a stock write up as well as a good model (really puts you above a lot of college students and some Senior Analysts have asked me to send them this material, it really goes a long way to show your interest and dedication). Focus on being likeable as the techs are quite rudimentary and a lot of interviewers are lazy and will just ask you to pitch a stock to assess how much you know. The competition seems fierce for SA but trust me I've heard associates tell me some people walk into the interview room with no stock pitch and literally BS on the spot by saying "I like Disney because I like Marvel movies" and talk nothing about competitive strategy, valuation or market sentiment. Just focus on forming high quality connections (network in person if possible), and thinking longer term (especially about GPA because that's honestly how the asses most candidates and put less emphasis on actual experience) since if you don't get in the first wave, there are plenty more firms in the second wave in Aug-Sep that will have less competitive candidates. This industry tends to favor people who stick at it for longer, and those who get in easy and don't put in the work will have no idea about how it works and end up going to a POD because it's a big hedge fund and end up being screwed in terms of career longevity.
brown/dartmouth/DUKE lmao
This is generally correct for someone who doesn’t have a specific sector in mind and just wanted to focus on the overall brand and platform. But in certain sectors, some firms have better teams than others.
How is RJ in the ER industry?
Don't know my about RJ but they would slot in to the Tier 3. I'm sure they have good analysts but you'll be working at a middle market bank which will never have the same scale as the Tier 2 Tier 1 players. But again it's all about analyst>bank unless the bank is really small.
Can I ask you the rational behind SIG in Tier 3? I know that they have a sell side equity research department even though they're a market maker. Would love some insight thank you
Their sell-side is relatively small in size and I see people on their sell-side constantly lateral somewhere else on the SS which generally isn't a great sign (although some folks lateral to smaller firms later in their career for better coverage opportunities). I don't know much about their research, but since they're small and with the general trends in the industry as outlined above (consolidation mainly) I feel like their sell-side arm is going to come under a lot of stress. I'm sure they have some really good analysts like any other firm and I'm sure even their pay might be slightly above a tier 2 firm like Wolfe but, it's just their scale on the sell-side that makes them a tier 3 especially for buy-side exits (seen a lot of people exit to MM or even LO if they're lucky at Tier 2-Tier 1 but not as many in the tier 3 with it being more of a lateral for junior talent). Their buy-side arm is a different story though. Again this is just my rough ranking and from what I heard while networking with others in industry and not a knock on any firms in particular. You can have a great career anywhere with the right people.
As an incoming MBA associate I would say have a look at top banks like Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley or JP Morgan. Their teams tend to be very strong in the financial industry
research is not the same as banking. GS research is a step behind the top tier in most sectors.
Gs has awful research
Their department just doesn’t emphasize II so they don’t have a ton of top II ranked analysts. They still have a solid department - Goldman is goldman. And no I don’t work there
You needed an MBA to learn that JPM MS GS are the best banks in “the financial industry”? Dope
Tier I - Evercore ISI, BoA, Jeffries, Morgan Stanley, Goldman
Tier II - Baird, JP Morgan, UBS, Citi, Wolfe Research, Bernstein
Tier III - Wells Fargo, Deustche Bank, Piper, William Blair, Guggenheim, RBC
Tier IV - Oppenheimer, Stifel, Truist, BNP Paribas
Tier V - rest of the small research shops
Based on research/sales rankings and corporate access/conference quality. Gave a slight bump to BBs over top MMs
GS research is ass bro stop shilling it
This is just so wrong in so many ways
baird certainly not T2
Pretty sure this guy works at Baird based on his report in the ER comp thread (“MM tier 2 Midwest city” = Milwaukee)
Embarrassing trying to rank his own firm up that high alongside JPM and Bernstein LOL
This is embarrassing, other monkeys please ignore this drivel
Based on a fairly thorough LinkedIn search, the top 5 firms that send the most ER associates to the buyside (both MM HFs and Top LOs) are the following: JPM, MS, GS, CS, UBS.
That's just the largest equity research firms.
Id architecto laborum laudantium nemo. Iusto consequatur voluptate cum voluptates tempore voluptatem.
Explicabo vel natus ut fugiat tempora illo. Accusamus praesentium aperiam perspiciatis enim. Id itaque molestiae fuga officiis in aut unde. Deleniti quam quas veritatis non. Ea quo ipsa aut pariatur.
Quis aliquid tempore in et et eligendi. Adipisci explicabo labore illo ut doloribus ipsa inventore. Odio vitae recusandae consequatur ut dolor. In est et eveniet. Rem sint magni non labore est omnis.
Aliquam quo mollitia non quis aperiam iusto. Assumenda aut eius aut aut.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...
Ipsam delectus molestias omnis ipsam quia. Corrupti ipsa quo nihil reiciendis assumenda.
Praesentium dolor culpa officiis excepturi consequuntur quis saepe quasi. Animi laboriosam consequatur ut. Mollitia eum fugiat in nobis at. Minima qui qui dolores. Aut necessitatibus repellat aperiam et. A sed officia quae saepe.
Vitae et eligendi odio sit quos. Nostrum porro rerum aut voluptates sit voluptate facilis. Qui soluta voluptas sequi eos tenetur minima corrupti. Corrupti expedita rerum est minus ducimus. Quod aut ut at laboriosam aspernatur. Ad voluptatem architecto consequuntur recusandae ex laboriosam.