The Stock Selection and Performance of Buy-Side Analysts

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The Stock Selection and Performance of Buy-Side Analysts

A new study by Harvard Business School professors looks at the differing behaviour of buy- and sell-side analysts, with some interesting results (emphasis added):

This paper examines buy recommendation performance for analysts at a large, buy-side firm relative to analysts at sell-side firms throughout the period of mid-1997 to 2004. The researchers find evidence of differences in the stocks recommended by the buy- and sell-side analysts. The buy-side firm analysts recommended stocks with stock return volatility roughly half that of the average sell-side analyst, and market capitalizations almost seven times larger. These findings indicate that portfolio managers (buy-side analysts’ clients) prefer that buy-side analysts cover less volatile and more liquid stocks. The study also finds that the buy-side firm analysts’ stock recommendations are less optimistic than their sell-side counterparts, consistent with buy-side analysts facing fewer conflicts of interest. This and future studies may help sell-side and buy-side executives to allocate their financial and human resources more strategically. Key concepts include:

  • The failure to find that buy-side research out-performs that of sell-side analysts raises questions about whether investment firms should continue to rely on their own research rather than using research from sell-side analysts.
  • Buy-side firms’ analysts issued recommendations for companies with lower stock return volatility and larger market capitalizations than typical sell-side firms.
  • Buy-side firm analysts recommended stocks with stock return volatility roughly half that of the average sell-side analyst (0.42% versus 0.95%), and market capitalizations almost seven times larger ($9.1 billion versus $1.3 billion).
  • For stocks covered by both buy- and sell-side analysts, there were no differences in the buy recommendations’ performance.
  • Resolving whether buy-side research creates value is highly relevant to managers at buy-side firms who are faced with the challenge of allocating limited research resources.

Read the full study here [pdf].

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