Since I left Morgan Stanley, one of the questions I get asked the most is how and where I get my research. The truth of the matter is that starting my own business doesn't change my resources. I have access to the same information and research as always. However, now I can express to my clients my honest evaluations of the "noise" out there including what is coming from large Wall Street firms.
Over the years, I have tuned out the noise and gathered sources of meaningful information to help me with investment direction. I try to make sure I get my information from unbiased sources whom I have come to respect.
I always take the proprietary research that the large Wall Street firms disseminate with a grain of salt. I know that the firm has, as all large financial firms do, a bias towards keeping investors bullish about the market. Recently, Adam Parker the Chief U.S. Equity Strategist at a large Wall Street firm released a note with his “teams” view on stocks.
“Parker’s team sees a bull case of 1,936 for the S&P at year-end, a base case of 1,600 and a bear case of 1,264.”
In other words, according to one of the most senior strategists on Wall Street the market could go up another 12%, fall 25%... or end up somewhere within this (narrow*) 35% range by the end of the year.
This is a great example of the noise from a large Wall Street Firm. There is an abundance of information available, some of it more (or less) meaningful than most.
Moving forward I plan on posting some of the meaningful articles that I come across on the website and on the blog.
*My attempt at Sarcasm