The past year has given investors plenty to worry about: War in Eastern Europe. The specter of stagflation. An impending recession.
With each new threat looming on the horizon came questions about what it could mean — for companies, for their portfolios, and for the larger economy. One group was ready with answers: the All-America Research Team.
At first glance, the annual ranking of Wall Street’s top research providers seems little changed by this year’s turbulent economic environment: JPMorgan Chase & Co. remains the No. 1 research firm for the seventh straight year, followed once again by longtime rival BofA Securities. Morgan Stanley and Evercore ISI also repeat, in third and fourth place, respectively.
A closer look, however, shows a competitive landscape that’s as much in flux as the markets themselves. The 2022 AART sees independent research firm Wolfe Research continue its climb up the leaderboard, to No. 5, bumping UBS to sixth place. Tied at No. 6 is Jefferies Group — this year’s biggest mover, up from tenth place last year.
The results are based on a survey including votes from 3,766 investment professionals across 1,557 asset management firms that spend at least $250,000 in sell-side commissions.
The participants also ranked analysts from the top firms to create a second leaderboard focused on individual talent. In that ranking, BofA Securities takes first place, edging past JPMorgan with 47 ranked analysts, compared with the incumbent’s 44. JPMorgan ties for No. 2 with Morgan Stanley, Evercore ISI remains in fourth place, and Wolfe Research moves up to fifth.
This year also sees 16 analysts emerge as the preeminent experts in their sectors, claiming their first No. 1 positions — in some cases after many years as runners-up.
It’s the highest number of first-time winners recorded in recent years, and evidence of how challenging markets can separate the analysts who add value from the ones who don’t.
How did this year’s new stars do it? We’ll let them tell you.
2022 marks the 51st year of the All-America Research Team and fourth year for publication of the survey’s commission-weighted results (previous years’ results were weighted by companies’ assets under management). The commission-weighted approach more accurately reflects how the buy-side values and rewards the sell-side for their research advisory services.
To select the members of the All-America Research Team, Institutional Investor solicited opinions of directors of research and investment professionals at asset management firms with a commission of at least US$250k and who are recognized as using sell-side research advisory services. For the All-America survey, we received responses from 3,766 individuals at 1,557 firms. The names of individuals surveyed are kept confidential to ensure their continuing cooperation.
Participants rated their top firms in each sector and then separately rated individual analysts at those firms to create two distinct rankings for each sector. A numerical score was produced by weighting each vote based on the responding firm’s commissions or assets under management in the sector and the rating awarded. This created the Commissions and AUM-weighted rankings.
Using those scores, ranks were determined. Firms/analysts are awarded a “Runner‐Up” position if their score comes within 35 percent of the third-place score in a sector. For the analyst rankings, the cut-off date for individuals is the date of the survey opening (May 31, 2022).
Voters must meet strict eligibility requirements, and winners must achieve a minimum vote count. All ballots are subject to review by the Research Operations Group.
These rankings were compiled by Senior Editors Tucker Ewing, Denise Hoguet and Researchers Denise Best, Xiao Lu and Amy Tan.
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