Best sectors to target

Which sectors would you target if you were going through a placement process in sellside ER? I know this has a lot to do with personal interest, analyst ranking, and WLB, but outside of that what industries do you think are the best to build a successful career on?

13 Comments
 

I would say go for industries with the largest companies and the most growth. Internet and e-commerce is the most sought after and toughest to break into, because you have companies like Facebook, Amazon, Google, Twitter, etc. Then would be Tech due to their high growth possibilities and penetration rates.

I would also look into Fintech and Autos due to the very same reasons as above.

 

Haven't seen this posted here yet. But the more complicated the sector is for the average buysider/institutional investor to grasp, the better the outlook for a SS analyst. Which is why Biotech, certain parts of tech do so well & consumer discretionary fares poorly. Feel very strongly about this, as these are the sectors where ER analysts will still be seen as a value-add for decades to come. 

 

Kinda in the same stage in life though targeting buyside. I'd say the industry doesn't matter so long as you enjoy the types of companies you have to cover and its an industry that's either undercovered or one where you can develop an advantage compared to peers, preferably both. My primary focus is small-cap consumer stocks for example. Pretty large universe but a lot of really fun and interesting work to be done and the size of the universe means there's a lack of coverage on many names.

 
Most Helpful

Probably two things to consider - how good your covering analyst is, and how the industry is viewed/ how complicated it is. If you work under a good analyst (and by good I don't just mean buy/sell record but how willing they are to mentor you and give you client exposure), you will learn a lot and become quite sharp yourself, regardless of the industry. If you are covering a niche/difficult industry, that's an excellent opportunity for you to differentiate yourself from the rest of the street. If the buy side comes to recognize you as the team/analyst providing valuable info into an opaque industry that gives them some kind of edge in their investment process, that will bode quite well for your exit ops.

 

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