What the heck do I do?

Here's the situation: I work in operations right now at a company I love. I graduated not long ago, but I already know I don't want to stay in ops. I've thought about it quite a lot and I've talked with many people on the career subject, and I decided I want to move into Equity Research.Now I am trying to figure out what I need to do to make that move. I really don't want to go through the CFA, so I was thinking of getting my Masters in Finance instead. My company would pay for all of it. Is this close to an equivalent? Would this help me in the same manner? I know a CFA is inevitable most likely, but I would rather wait a bit until I have more industry knowledge. Also, I was hoping to save my MBA till later on when I have more experience. I just want to figure out the most efficient way to move in to ER while pushing back the CFA a bit.