Research analysts once toiled in obscurity. But this newfound fame and fortune carries with it an increasingly high price, as Wall Street's researchers become lightning rods for market performance. And, as Senior Editor Carolyn Sargent notes in her introduction to this year's All-America team, disaffection among institutional investors is growing steadily. Overall, investors worry that the quality of research has slipped because of all the work analysts must do for their firm's investment banking clients. They still think very highly of many analysts on an individual basis but long for more creative, thought-provoking work.
Investors are certainly eager to reward the best analysts.
They voted in record numbers to select winners for the 2000 All-America Research Team. This year, under the direction of Art Director Irene Ledwith, we departed from our traditional caricatures to photograph the 79 winners in 82 categories. Ledwith, Pleasant and Deputy Art Director Patrizia Bove combed through more than 3,000 images, selecting the best photos for our cover and inside spreads.