Buy Side

The "sell-side" of Wall Street includes stock brokers, people who sell companies, investment bankers, capital markets makers, and other such folks. These people are all about making money, wearing ties, and driving fancy cars. If you've seen Wolf of Wall Street, you know who we're talking about.

The "buy-side" of Wall Street includes people like mutual fund managers, hedge fund managers, and pension fund managers. These are people who are responsible for the money and have an obligation to their clients. They have to report to shareholders and have to justify how much risk they took to make money. If they lost money, they have some 'splainin' to do.

Related or Semi-related Video

Finance: What is a Sell Side Analyst?1 Views

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finance a la shmoop what is a sell side analysts all right well they're the

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brains of a stock brokerage more or less brokers essentially rent those brains to [Brain in a jar]

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by side investors like hedge and mutual funds and wealthy family office

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investors hoping that the genius insights of that sell side analysts will

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entice the buy ciders to invest through the brokerage generating kindly loving [Bysider people standing by brain in a jar]

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Commission's for the brokers got it in practice much investment banking and

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corporate finance work is also generated via the reports created by that vaunted [Investment banking report document appears]

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sell-side analysts and you can imagine if you're the CEO of itty bitty city

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Corp comm and you read a glowing report from a sell side analysts who views your

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stock today as a bargain at 12 bucks a share and puts in writing that they

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think it'll be over a hundred bucks a share in three years if you were in fact

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to do an offering like a selling stock or debt in your company well you'd

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probably hire the firm who loved you above all other banks [Love hearts appear from bank building]

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pushing you to hire them right that is you'd hire the bank who had a strong buy

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on your stock long before you'd hire the one telling Wall Street to short you

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well sell side analysts in theory are the investing whisperer of Wall Street [Young girl whispers in girls ear]

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they don't actually pull the trigger and actually invest and live or die by their

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own investment decisions instead they simply point out observations they've

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made with dotted line recommendations to their constituency meaning the people

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who read their reports as to what stocks to buy sell or hold well until

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Regulation FD or full disclosure came along which required broad and full

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disclosure of company information to their entire investing community all at

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once sell side analysts were actively courted by the buy side so that the buy [Phone rings]

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cider would be the first phone call from that sell side analysts when they were

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gonna upgrade or downgrade a given security and then that buy cider could [Hedge fund manager answers phone]

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buy it ahead of the rest of the world and make a quick buck or a few points

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you know here and there the role was largely lambasted by regulators when it

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came to light that some 95% of all investing recommendations

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were a buy or strong buy with the sell-side analysts being urged [Cash placed on table by brain in a jar]

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aggressively by the investment bankers who paid her to write glowing loving

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things about the companies she covered well the result was more or less the end

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of the sell-side analysts as a trusted respected role on Wall Street today

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those once lucrative many million dollar-a-year jobs now receive anemic [Cash appears]

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pay with anemic influence in a world where the buy-side simply stopped

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trusting and/or listening to the recommendations of its brokers and [Girl cries and man walks away]

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viewed the structure of the relationship as purely a utilitarian functionary one

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where the job of the broker was to get the buyer the block of stock at the [Man with sack of stocks]

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cheapest price possible that's it no frills so ya sell side analysts aren't

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what they used to be which you know if you were on the itty-bitty City

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Committee [Man throws cash into trash can]

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