Look for the next two installments on Tuesday and Wednesday . There was a time when the term securities analyst was unambiguous. Then they issued a report, usually on paper, explaining why a stock was a buy at a given price or not. Clients of the big brokerage houses got the research as a matter of course as part of the service they expected in return for paying full commissions on their trades. By firm Best stock pickers Best firms Today, it's difficult to pinpoint exactly what the function of a Wall Street analyst is.
Analysts still perform research.
And they still make recommendations. But now analysts have many masters, with diverging interests. Research must help the brokerage's sales force generate orders. Somewhere in there are the interests of individual investors seeking unbiased investment advice. The real money comes from fees generated by underwriting new securities offerings, brokering megadeals and high-volume trading activity from institutions.