How many stocks?

Hi Guys,

Those of you who work at HFs , how many stocks do you cover ? I mean how many stocks do you actively maintain models on, follow during earnings etc and know the story pretty well ? I am looking to make a switch from the sell-side to a HF, and I want to understand how the workload changes in terms of scope and depth.

Thx.

8 Comments
 
Best Response

I followed 10-15 on the sell side. Now I follow 15-20 at a HF but actually with a greater amount of detail. Some of the guys that I work with follow only around 5 companies but obviously those companies are very well modeled by them. I think workload on the buy side is more driven by the strategy/culture rather than the number of names followed.

 

I work for a long-only manager. Our portfolios have ~50 stocks.

I feel responsible for the entire universe (large cap US). We try not to make sector bets so the focus jumps from sector to sector.

Some sectors are easy/boring. Telecom/REITs/Utilities just look for quality and/or neutralize your benchmark. That still leaves ~45 names to find.

We rarely meet with management and models are neither comprehensive nor meticulously updated. We want an understanding of where the forward quarter/year numbers will be. Never DCFs. We strive for a sell-side like knowledge of the fundamentals driving the stock while avoiding the tedium of actually maintaining the models.

For almost all companies, we are far from product/service experts but we like to think that we are "experts" at understanding the nuances of the key financial metrics. If we can accomplish the latter then we feel like we have an advantage over 90% of the market. The 10% with the true expertise will beat us but we can still make a lot of money beating the other 90%.

 

How many stocks does a PM in a long/short fund know well ? I have heard that long/short book could easily have about 70 - 80 stocks. How well does the PM know those names ? Or does he know a subset and depend on the Analysts for the rest ?

 

Itaque molestiae expedita repudiandae fugiat quia beatae quo. Porro et quia sed sunt similique. Totam beatae quia beatae voluptate quo quia laudantium. Consectetur accusamus quo perspiciatis neque. Eum blanditiis pariatur voluptate at ea maiores sint. Aut sequi aliquid a delectus qui est veniam.

Ea in voluptatem ipsam architecto enim illo tenetur. Eveniet autem dolore ea aliquam nam repudiandae. Nam temporibus deleniti perspiciatis labore aut sit impedit. Occaecati eos vitae sit exercitationem beatae quasi. Sit et error animi atque recusandae dolore sed. Voluptate ad quia quia sapiente velit ab alias. Maxime sint tempore tempora.

Career Advancement Opportunities

June 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Point72 99.0%
  • D.E. Shaw 98.1%
  • Citadel Investment Group 97.1%
  • AQR Capital Management 96.2%
  • Magnetar Capital 95.2%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

June 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Magnetar Capital 99.0%
  • Millennium Partners 98.1%
  • D.E. Shaw 97.1%
  • Blackstone Group 96.1%
  • Citadel Investment Group 95.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

June 2026 Hedge Fund

  • AQR Capital Management 99.1%
  • Point72 98.1%
  • D.E. Shaw 97.2%
  • Citadel Investment Group 96.2%
  • Magnetar Capital 95.3%

Total Avg Compensation

June 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Portfolio Manager (9) $1,648
  • Vice President (27) $464
  • Director/MD (12) $423
  • NA (9) $320
  • Engineer/Quant (86) $288
  • 3rd+ Year Associate (26) $284
  • Manager (4) $282
  • 2nd Year Associate (32) $253
  • 1st Year Associate (76) $192
  • Analysts (240) $181
  • Intern/Summer Associate (28) $146
  • Junior Trader (5) $102
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (282) $96
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
3
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
4
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
5
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
6
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
7
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
8
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
9
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
10
Jamoldo's picture
Jamoldo
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”