buy-side analyst

Definition

An analyst employed by an entity, such as a mutual fund, that invests on its own accounts. Unlike that of the sell-side analysts employed by brokerage firms, research produced by buy-side analysts is usually unavailable outside of the firm that hired the analyst. A sell-side analyst's focus when analyzing possible investments is to see whether the investment should be recommended to the firm's clients, while a buy-side analyst would only be interested in analyzing whether the investment is suitable for the firm's investment strategy and portfolio. Thus, sell-side analysts structure their research such that it is usable for a wider audience than buy-side research. Buy-side analysts often source research from sell-side analysts, and then use this information as a base for their own research.

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