RESEARCH REPORTS
A research report refers to a document that is prepared by a strategist or an analyst who is part of the investment research team in an investment bank or a stock brokerage. A research report may focus on a specific stock, or on a geographic country or region, or industry sector, commodity, a currency or fixed-income instrument. In most cases, research reports have actionable recommendations like investment ideas that can be acted upon by investors.
RESEARCH REPORT
The production of research reports can be done by different sources that range from the market research firms to the in-house departments at large organizations. In case it is applied to the investment industry, the term refers to the sell-side research or investment research that is produced by brokerage houses. Such kind of research is disseminated to the retail and institutional clients of the brokerage that produces it. Research that is produced by the buy-side, that includes portfolio managers, mutual funds and pension funds, is normally for internal use only. In other words, it is not distributed to external parties.
FINANCIAL ANALYST RESEARCH REPORTS
Financial analysts can produce research reports in order for them to support certain recommendations, like whether to sell or buy a certain security or whether a certain client should consider a certain financial product. For instance, an analyst can create a report with regard to a new offering that the company is proposing. The report may include relevant metrics concerning the company itself, like the number of years that they have been operating and the names of those that are considered key stakeholders, together with statistics concerning the market’s current state in which the company is participating. Information about the overall profitability and the intended use of funds may also be included.
CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
While some of the analysts are unaffiliated functionally, others can be either directly or indirectly affiliated with the companies that they produce reports for. Unaffiliated analysts normally perform independent research in order to determine an appropriate recommendation and they may have limited concern about the outcome.
Affiliated analysts on the other hand can feel best served by proving that any research report portrays the clients in a favorable light. In case the analyst is also an investor in the company that he/ she is conducting research on, the report may be biased. The researcher can have personal incentive to avoid topics that can result to a lowered valuation of the securities that he has invested in.
INVESTMENT ANALYST
An investment analyst refers to a financial professional who has expertise in evaluating investment and financial information, typically to be used in the making buy, hold and sell recommendations for securities.
FUND MANAGER
This refers to the person who oversee portfolio of hedge or mutual funds and make final decisions concerning how they are invested.
NET ASSET VALUE
This refers to a mutual fund’s assets less its liabilities, divided by the outstanding shares number. This is used as a standard price measure.
Y
Y is a letter that appears on a stock symbol. It specifies that a particular stock is an American Depository Receipt. It is written as ADR.
