Equity Research Analyst Career Path

To work as an equity research analyst, you’ll need a variety of skills. You’ll need to be able to think critically and conduct analysis. Furthermore, since they are in charge of purchasing, selling, and holding shares, a thorough understanding and knowledge of concepts is critical. Moreover, this career can help you get recognition and lots of fortune too.

Let us get insights of Equity Research Analyst Career Path!

Who is an equity research analyst?

An investment bank’s equity research division conducts research on publicly traded firms and distributes it to the bank’s clients. There is a lot of competition for jobs, but the pay is good, and the work is very cerebral. Equity research has a much flatter organisational chart than most other divisions, with seniority determined by the quality of research. Equity research analyst and equity research associate are the two most important positions.

Equity Research Analyst: Roles and Responsibilities

Some of the roles and responsibilities include –

The role of an equity research analyst is to analyse financial data in order to perform analytic and strategic research. An equity research analyst’s function as a researcher is crucial. He or she supports the research departments of the organisation for which he or she works in order to address a variety of client needs.
Equity research analysts’ job responsibilities include analysing financial statements and producing reports based on the knowledge gleaned from their research. Companies, agencies, and governments use reporting to make real-time decisions, choices, and schedules. It appears to be a means of internal communication within the company and among employees. To keep track of any possible problems that can affect the company’s operations.
Equity research analysts must also synthesise data in order to generate new investment ideas and make financial action and decision recommendations. A buyer should work with an equity research analyst to protect their assets and keep costs and fees to a minimum. They can ensure that a customer’s earnings are eligible for sale according to the customer’s wishes. It is based on the client’s needs, and financial analysis can result in improvements in financial targets.

Career Paths

There are two main roles that you can expect after gaining sufficient knowledge about the field –

Equity research associate – After completing bachelor’s degree programmes, the majority of equity research analysts begin their careers as entry-level research associates. Research associates assist a senior equity research analyst in the development and execution of research and financial models. Equity Research Associates are responsible for analysing stocks, conducting financial performance and adjustments, evaluating equity transactions, conducting industry-specific analyses, creating proprietary publications, and generating financial models.

Funds Manager – Countless equity research analysts and associates go on to work as fund managers at wealth management companies, hedge funds, mutual funds, and other similar organisations. This is an obvious and rational move, as the core skills required for a fund manager’s position are quite similar to those acquired by an equity research analyst over the course of their career. You use the same analysis expertise as a fund manager to decide if a security is worth investing in. The key difference is that instead of focusing on a single security at a time, you examine your entire portfolio before deciding which security to invest in based on a relative analysis.

Equity Research Analysts – They analyse data to create new investment strategies and make detailed recommendations on financial decisions and choices. In their analysis and evaluations, equity research analysts look for opportunities and risks. They inform their customers of this and provide suggestions as needed. Working as an equity research analyst is possible after a few years of experience.

Trading analyst: Some stock research analysts are responsible for managing high-net-worth individuals’ private portfolios. This simply means that you control the personal portfolios of one or more wealthy individuals. Since you have a lot of flexibility in terms of the amount of work you want to take on, this could be superior to other exit choices. Rather than working as a salaried employee, you can run your own company.

How can you start your career as Equity Research Analyst?

It is very much important to have a decent beginning with proper assets and learning material to be acceptable at something. Therefore, you initial steps towards learning must be apt in order to be pro in this field. Let look at some steps that you can take in order to begin your learning process –

Step 1 – Learn about the basics and Develop Conceptual understanding

Before you can become an expert in those areas, you must first create a solid base. And before you get to the practical labs, you’ll need to have the right applied skills. Everyone starts somewhere. If you want to have a good career in this area, you must start tiny. To obtain a complete understanding of the definition, you can consult the following resources:

Firstly, Online Tutorials for Equity Research
Also, Certification Courses from verified sources such as Vskills, Coursera, Udemy and so on.
In addition, Online communities
Moreover, Blogs and study material from experts in this field and many more.

Vskills also provide Online tutorials, certification courses and free practice tests for the same. You can check them out on our official site.

Step 2 – Practice Mini Projects

It is important to practice if you want to land in a good place. It’s also a great way to figure out where you are when it comes to putting your expertise into practice. Experience can help you outlast other things in practical aspects such as the application of Equity Research concepts in projects. You can complement your learning by reading blogs and tutorials on various websites to better understand the practical aspects.

Step 3 – Build Your Portfolio

Building a portfolio will help you build confidence in your abilities while also providing you with a forum to put what you’ve learned into effect. Your portfolio demonstrates your ability to execute and plan different codes, as well as how well you execute your Equity Research Analysis skills. These activities should involve a number of datasets and leave readers with fascinating tidbits of information that you’ve gathered. Your portfolio doesn’t have to be about a single subject; find codes that attract you, and figure out how to bring them together.

Step 4 – Implement your skills in Real world

It’s important to put your skills into practice and that’s why you’ve spent so much time learning how to do it exactly! It’s also important that you remain current and continue to work on and develop your own abilities. Some specialized courses can also demonstrate that you have advanced skills. You are invited to attend as well. The following are some examples of how you can develop your skills:

Freelancing
Internships
Apprenticeship programs

The above steps will help you to get this domain started. It’s a long way to go, however. You can take an advanced course to reach a new level of skills.

Market Demand

Candidates in Equity research will find employment in companies like Religare Securities Ltd, ICICI Direct, Aditya Birla Money Ltd, Kotak Securities Limited, HDFC Securities Limited, India Infoline Services. The equity research analysts job is generally nine hours but it can also stretch to as long as 12 hours when there’s a requirement to meet a certain deadline. They work from Monday to Friday beginning from 9 am in the morning. Analysts might work the same amount as Associates: 50-70 hours per week, with ~12-hour days on average, and longer hours during the earning season.

Average salary

Below is a range of compensation you can expect to earn as an associate or analyst in equity research. It should be noted that there can be a wide range based on the firm and the city you’re working in.

Associate: $80,000 to $140,000 (base salary plus bonus)

Analyst: $120,000 to $500,000+ (base salary plus bonus)

Conclusion

For equity analysts, the stock market has expanded by leaps and bounds over the years. Aside from being one of the country’s largest markets, stock markets have also provided many job openings in the field of equity research analyst. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why, year after year, an increasing number of people are eager to pursue a career in the stock market. In contrast to investment banking and private equity, where the Analyst is at the bottom of the hierarchy, in science, the Analyst is at the top.