Stifel Reputation
Hey WSO,
Does anyone have any insight regarding Stifel, namely culture, best groups and firm trajectory?
I have a lateral interview coming up, and info is fairly old across the site.
Appreciate the help!
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If this is with their SF office, then please reconsider. That office is struggling a lot and has a not so great culture.
Is the SF group not good? Sweat shop culture?
It depends on office.
My knowledge is a bit dated, but from memory, the NYC offices were solid for the most part (dependent on group of course) and the Baltimore Office is solid (Industrials Group is by far strongest in that office).
Stifel is a solid MM shop along with Baird, HW to name a few.
Stifel is on the lowest tier of MM banks.
Nowhere near a Jefferies, Blair, or Baird. Probably below a STRH / Truist or a Raymond James / Harris Williams type
Op here, I understand they live in the lower middle market world. But are they a bad shop/not respected? I currently work at a large balance sheet bank without much culture in Corp banking.
I'm really just looking for a place where I can develop a technical skillset and be part of a good culture. Of course, I'm looking for exit ops, but I'm also considering b school and a career tangent, so I'm willing to sacrifice some prestige for lifestyle.
Stifel did horribly last few years in terms of dealflow Horribly
Why on earth would you not try to move internally? Front office at a BB working on things with the iBankers and you want to dip to LMM? Nothing against Stifel, but it’s not like you’re a senior who hasn’t interned applying to entry level banking spots.
Their fig team (kbw) is respectable, though not sure if that is a separate recruiting process
Be ready for a lot of pitches
No credibility as an i-bank.
Interviewed/talked to alumni there and from what I can tell they’re on the same tier as banks like BMO, Baird, etc. in terms of deal flow/exits/quality of work. Just below Jeff, Blair, HL but above SunTrust, RJ. Have a good enough name to lateral to BB, EBs in the future if you work hard enoug
You should offer a disclaimer that you’re a stifel 2020 intern.
Nobody else in the world considers stifel anywhere near blair or Baird or Jefferies in terms of rep and quality
Admittedly I’m a little biased, but I was choosing between a couple of these banks just a month ago (most MMs recruit/resume drop at my school) but from what I’ve seen, people would take nycmm over chicago mm a majority of the time, and alumni in the past have took the stifel offer over many other banks you mentioned. Definitely not trying to argue or anything I’m not deep in the industry
Agreed.
The fact that you said Stifel is above Raymond James is just ridiculous. I have never seen a single Stifel person place into a reputable PE shop, whereas multiple at RJ have gone to a Mega-Fund (obviously not a regularity but still).
Stifel is at the lowest tier of any (somewhat) relevant bank. I would only place it above the no-name regional banks such as Cross-Key Capital in FL. It is a significant step below RJ / SunTrust / Truist / even KeyBanc and not even in the same league as a HL / Jeff / Blair / Baird. The students that have gone there from my mid-west semi-target state school have basically been the scraps that literally NO OTHER bank wanted any part of.
Even MillerBuckfire which was considered a top restructuring boutique went to shit after the acquisition and most of the top MD's and relevant analyst pipelines from top universities have left or faded.
With that being said, if you come from a completely non-target background and have a shitty GPA, and are willing to deal with a really shitty culture, hours, pitches, and no exit opps to PE, Stifel can provide you with the opportunity to lateral to a more relevant bank (BMO / Piper).
However, you most likely cannot lateral from a Stifel into a BB or to any relevant Boutique. You'd have to go Stifel --> BMO / Piper --> BB/EB
False - people lateral from Stifel to Centerview, GS, MS, Evercore all the time. Pretty poor exits but still generally sweatshop across groups with analysts that do 95% same thing as BB analysts
Would not put BMO with Baird. Isn’t a Raymond James better than Stifel. Stifel does more ECM and less M&A
Also Stifel acquired a pretty reputable restructuring bank a few years back, Miller Buckfire - not sure how MB is viewed these days though.
Any updates on their reputation in 2021. Exit opps? Can I exit to a BBB IB team 1-2 years down the road?
Stifel is good. But I will say, there is a REALLY weird student at my undergrad working FI at Stifel/KBW. So for that reason, avoid the entire firm.
Hahaha which office/region? IBD or research?
I know A2s/A3s that lateralled to JPM and Moelis after 1 - 2 years. I know A2s/A3s that exited to Series B Corp Dev roles and MM PE funds from Stifel. Group, location, networking and actual deal experience matter a lot and these individuals are all very talented and technically gifted. Worth noting most did not come from target schools and made the transition.
Does anyone have a view on the Tech group at Stifel? I heard they have a ton of deal flow.
Bump
Deal flow is strong in NYC tech group thanks to the Mooreland Partners acquisition in 2019.
Anyone know how their Consumer / Retail group is? Seems like they had a really great year M&A league tables wise but I assume that Tech and KBW were the main drivers behind that.
Does anyone have all in comp info for A1/A2
What's the status on their Healthcare Group?
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