what do i need to know to be an equity research associate?(Or even intern)

I've recently become very interested in this career path and was wondering what skills I may need to gain to be successful in interviews & ultimately on the job.

Do I need hard modeling skills(IB level)?

What books, courses, blogs, or anything really would you recommend I study to be prepare me for a career in equity research and to make me more competitive during the internship recruiting process.

Note: Im a sophomore at a target school.

 
Best Response

A really good book is "Best Practices for Equity Research Analysts" -- provides pretty good insights about understanding the job and what is important for you to do / not to do during your work. This is more "on the job" skills that really provide help for what you should be doing when you have a job, but it can also be helpful in seeing what the job looks like.

In terms of basic information and wanting to learn/study, I think that using something like BIWS' financial modeling course is quite sufficient. It'll really benefit you to do something like that.

Also, do some online searching for old versions of equity research reports. See what the structure looks like, the language, what they are saying is important. The more you can see and understand how an analyst gets from information to a recommendation on a stock, the better off you will be and the more prepared you will be for interviews, internships, and ultimately your career.

 

It kind of depends on the fund. Algebra is fine for funds such as those that concentrate on fundamentals where the majority of work is qualitative. For funds that tend to use algorithms to spot opportunities, well, yes, that would be a hard position to get.

 

You still have to articulate yourself well in writing on the buyside, but it's more important about having a good thesis with points to back it up. In the end, there are only a few major drivers of a security's price. You don't need 20+ pages for new earnings to figure out the rating. Also, you need to be able to speak to PMs every day about your ideas and articulate your thesis on the spot, not just in a note.

 

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