Year 3 · Applied Finance · Equity Research
Equity Research
Learn how equity research analysts understand businesses, forecast earnings, value stocks, identify catalysts and risks, interpret earnings releases, and communicate differentiated investment views.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
What you should be able to explain after this lesson
01
Explain the role of sell-side and buy-side equity research.
02
Analyze a company’s business model, industry structure, competitive position and KPIs.
03
Build earnings forecasts from operating drivers rather than simple extrapolation.
04
Connect earnings forecasts to valuation and price targets.
05
Structure an investment thesis around expectations, catalysts, risks and variant perception.
06
Interpret earnings releases, guidance, estimate revisions and stock reactions.
CONCEPT MAPFrom business understanding to investment view
Equity research turns company information into an investable view
CORE FACTS · SAME IN EVERY MODE
Sell-side analysts publish research for institutional clients; buy-side analysts support internal portfolio decisions.
Analysts specialize by sector so they can compare business models, KPIs, valuation and competitive dynamics consistently.
The job combines accounting, modeling, industry work, valuation, communication and continuous information updating.
The central question is not whether a company is good, but whether the stock offers attractive risk-reward relative to what is already priced in.
BeginnerTeaching style changes, knowledge does not.
An equity research analyst studies companies and decides what their future earnings may look like and whether the current stock price seems attractive.
COMPARISON
Sell-side vs buy-side research
| Area | Sell-side | Buy-side |
|---|---|---|
| Audience | External clients | Internal portfolio teams |
| Output | Published notes and estimates | Investment recommendations and internal research |
| Core objective | Useful differentiated research | Investment performance |
PROFESSIONAL VOCABULARYCoverage universe / univers de couverture Consensus / consensus Variant perception / variant perception
Set of companies regularly followed by an analyst or team.
Aggregate market expectation for financial results or valuation.
Investment view meaningfully different from what the market appears to expect.