Is Equity Research Dying?

I've been reading articles about how Millennials are dumping individual stocks and plowing money into ETFs…

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/12/millennials-are-d…

Coupling this information with investors’ general trend toward passive investing, do you guys see the job market for equity research contracting in the next decade? And if yes, do you think it's unwise for a student with options in other areas to go into equity research?

8 Comments
 

MichaelScarn, have you checked out these or run a search:

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"AntiKobe" There’s also a good post on this from June 2016.

Would you mind providing a link? Totally get it if it's too much of a hassle, but would love to learn more.

"I'm at a loss, he was part of that whole Yale thing... Well, I think, for one, that he was probably a closet homosexual who did a lot of cocaine... You know, that Yale thing."
 
Most Helpful

ER has been contracting since the wall went up and will continue to contract thanks to MiFID. I wouldn't advise any recent grad to go into research, but I'm probably just jaded from having been in the industry too long.

Just know that if you go in, you'll have less fun than I did when I joined and probably make less too despite your increased workload. Not saying I made all that much either, just that it's much harder to generate value for your firm which by proxy affects your paycheck.

But it would be an exaggeration to say ER will be dead. Despite all the rhetoric about quants and such, the best fundamental guys will continue to be sought after by clients. The ones who will suffer the most will be anybody not ranked or not at a deal heavy boutique.

 

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