Finance
Analysts Really, Really Want to Be Liked
Stock researchers at brokers scramble to win popularity contests.
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It’s an annual ritual among stock research analysts and their fund manager clients: vote-begging season for best-analyst rankings. “I appreciate how irritating this is,” writes a Citigroup Inc. analyst in London in one email asking for a vote.
“If you have five minutes to spare, could you tell II how much you value our work?” asks a UBS Group AG analyst in another, referring to Institutional Investor LLC, one of the publishers of rankings. A Jefferies Group LLC analyst in Hong Kong includes in his email a handy graphic showing how two stocks climbed following his positive reports. He also offers to help clients set up an account to vote on the Institutional Investor website.