How the Trading Floor Really Works

The Role of a Credit or Equity Analyst

Credit and equity analysts are generally divided by sector or industry. This is an acknowledgment that different types of businesses operate with different financial targets. A research analyst who analyzes utilities will not necessarily be able to write a report about banks without doing a lot of homework. A generic and broad breakdown of research analysts would be:

• financial services, which includes banks, insurance companies, pension funds and asset managers
• retail, which includes supermarkets and clothing chains
• utilities, which includes electricity, gas and water providers
• telecommunications, media and technology (also called TMT), which includes telephone companies, Internet providers, television ...