Carter Braxton Worth, a seven-time member of Institutional Investor’s All-America Research Team in the category of Technical Analysis, is moving from Sterne, Agee & Leach to Cornerstone Macro, the New York–based boutique founded in 2013 by industry luminaries Andrew Laperriere, Nancy Lazar, Roberto Perli and François Trahan.
“Technicals is a natural category for us to cover,” observes Trahan. “We’ve done a ton of due diligence on the space in the past year, so I feel like an expert on the topic at this point. Carter is bar none the best candidate out there.”
Worth describes his new position as an “exceptional” opportunity. “Joining a macro-dedicated platform is an ideal fit for my franchise,” he explains. “Cornerstone is dedicated to macro research exclusively, and as such my work will be a key feature of the firm’s product offering rather than one product of many at a bulge-bracket firm.”
The 48-year-old is a graduate of Boston University with a bachelor’s degree in international relations. In 1990 he accepted a position as a portfolio strategist at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, where he began formal training in technical analysis. Worth moved to Oppenheimer & Co. in 2005 and debuted on the All-America Research Team three years later. He has made the team every year since, even after moving to Sterne Agee early last year.
In February, Stifel Financial Corp. agreed to buy Sterne Agee for $150 million and on March 13 announced that it would sell the latter’s institutional equities business, including its research operations, to CRT Capital Group. Terms of that deal have not been disclosed.
Laperriere, Lazar, Perli and Trahan — all of whom are veterans of ISI Group — have appeared on the All-America Research Team a total of three dozen times since 2000 in such sectors as Economics, Portfolio Strategy, Quantitative Research and Washington Research.
Trahan hints that Cornerstone may not be done building its bench. “We are open to growing opportunistically,” he says. “In this environment it does not make sense to add product just for the sake of adding product, but if the right opportunity were presented we would certainly be open to it. We now have the four key macro verticals covered, so it will be more challenging to find the right additions. But there are a few interesting prospects out there . . . I will leave it at that for now.”
