Richard at Fidelity

Lots of companies talk about early responsibility, but it's a firm reality at Fidelity. I cover 30 stocks in the hotels, leisure and gambling sector, so I need to get up to speed on different industries very quickly. My work as an Equity Analyst involves financial modelling, meeting companies and doing my own individual research. To get an edge versus the market, I try to talk to a variety of people in the industry, meet with middle management and use external research for surveys and market research. This helps me to build the financial forecasts for the company and understand its growth profile in relation to its valuation. This then forms my investment thesis and I rate the stock as a buy or sell and discuss any investment opportunities this may offer with the Portfolio Managers. This involves a lot of qualitative and quantitative work.

I try to go and see companies as much as possible as it’s a good way of really understanding the company and industry dynamics first hand. Although it is fairly daunting running meetings with CEOs (Chief Executive Officers) and CFOs (Chief Financial Officers) of companies, the support is there and you learn very quickly. Although there are dedicated training sessions, you tend to learn more on the job with exposure to the Portfolio Managers and Senior Analysts.

For my research, I’ve travelled to Asia, the US and Europe. Industry conferences are especially useful to understand what’s happening in the industry and to meet as many people as possible to hear their view and build up a collection of industry contacts. For instance, in my previous sector of renewable energy, I attended the US wind energy conference in LA, which helped me understand the significant potential for wind energy.

The freedom that Fidelity gives you means you can make recommendations and choose your own path. It enables you to work to your own strengths. When doing your research, you can be as innovative as you like and this is encouraged. It’s very rewarding to actually see the value of my achievements. When you’re right, it’s very satisfying seeing your expectations materialise. On the other side, it’s very important to learn from the ones that don’t work and understand why.

Fidelity actively encourage you to have a healthy work/life balance and make sure you take your holiday entitlement. They invest in you, to enhance your investment and analytical skills. The focus is on your long-term career and after six to seven years (three to four sector rotations), you should then have the experience needed to move to the next step; a Portfolio Manager.

A Day in my Life

0800 – Read through any morning newsflow that could affect my companies (either from them directly or impacts from other company announcements). I will send out an email with my thoughts if there is anything relevant.

0900 – If a company reports results, I will update my financial model and listen into results conference call + speak to sell-side analysts (i.e. one of the investment banks) to hear there views and discuss the implications.

1030* – Prepare for company meetings (agenda of key questions to ask management)

1230* – Speak with competing private companies and industry people on different sub-sectors to understand what is happening on the ground. Also try and meet with middle management of companies I cover to understand the business better and their perspectives.

1400* – Write company/industry reports (that are published on internal system) to highlight my views (especially if anything has changed in the previous investment thesis)

1500* – speak with Fund Managers to make sure my best ideas are in their funds (we can own up to 15% of a stock) and to keep them updated on any change in conviction/thesis in stocks they own.

1900* – leave the office

*the timing of these tasks can change depending on the schedule for the upcoming week.