Myths of Sell Side Research

Pay lags IB. While true, your hourly wage is probably comparable or higher.

Sector matters. There are no universally coveted sectors. Coveted sector is bank by bank and analyst reputation matters disproportionally more. Industrials and healthcare are huge at many MM and BB sell side shops because they are complicated industries that require sell siders with macro knowledge. Consumer goods is huge at other shops. Many boutiques specialize in healthcare.

Tech is coveted. Sell side tech is about as useless as it gets. You will learn very little real valuation, spend hours writing reports that no one will read as the stocks do not trade in fundamentals and any news of importance is already widely talked about on through free media.

You will never work weekends. You will work weekends, particularly during earnings. Sell siders beware- this is not a "no weekends" gig. This is high finance and you will still work like this is high finance.

Stock picking rankings matter. They do not. Financials and tech analysts tend to have the higher “star” ratings, whatever that’s good for, as their sectors have been growth over the past decade. Analysts that can provide macro insight are much more important to clients and are oftentimes compensated well above more “well known” counterparts because of trading volume/client base they are able to attract and hold down over time.