Sell Side Exit Opportunities: Top Ranked vs. Unranked?

I'm considering opportunities on the sell side and am wondering about exit opportunities for working under a top ranked analyst versus an unranked one.

I am assuming the former has stronger exit opportunities, but any commentary around the degree to which they do or discussion around past experiences would be appreciated.

Note: Edited due to comments below.

 
Best Response

With equity research, you can't generalize over the entire firm like that. I would say that bulge brackets (on average) are better as they have large sales forces that can broadcast an analyst's ideas, so there is greater job security in that. However, you also have idiots at some bulge brackets that can't say anything worth saying on a note or over the phone because of conflicts with other business lines, such as investment banking.

What you should really care about is the specific team and how good the team is. Good teams have good exit opportunities. The good team could be at Stifel or it could be at Sanford Berstein. It depends. Evaluate the team, not the firm as a whole as a first step. Second is to evaluate the firm.

I think you can generalize over a firm in investment banking more often than you can in equity research.

 

I was definitely being overly general by mentioning firms instead of mentioning specific teams and apologize for that. I am familiar with analyst rankings and understand that individual teams matter more.

However, the main point behind the question still stands. Would working for an analyst who has been unranked for multiple years severely hurt exit opportunities versus a top ranked analyst or are the exit opportunities relatively similar?

 

Voluptas veritatis ut neque rem. Sit velit sit eaque quia. Voluptatum at eligendi ea officiis autem nihil placeat voluptatem. Sit quia aut totam aut dicta consequuntur.

Career Advancement Opportunities

April 2024 Investment Banking

  • Jefferies & Company 02 99.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 19 98.8%
  • Harris Williams & Co. New 98.3%
  • Lazard Freres 02 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 03 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

April 2024 Investment Banking

  • Harris Williams & Co. 18 99.4%
  • JPMorgan Chase 10 98.8%
  • Lazard Freres 05 98.3%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.7%
  • William Blair 03 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

April 2024 Investment Banking

  • Lazard Freres 01 99.4%
  • Jefferies & Company 02 98.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 17 98.3%
  • Moelis & Company 07 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 05 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

April 2024 Investment Banking

  • Director/MD (5) $648
  • Vice President (19) $385
  • Associates (87) $260
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (14) $181
  • Intern/Summer Associate (33) $170
  • 2nd Year Analyst (66) $168
  • 1st Year Analyst (205) $159
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (146) $101
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
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
6
kanon's picture
kanon
98.9
7
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
8
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
9
Linda Abraham's picture
Linda Abraham
98.8
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...”