The continued pressure on financial services providers to decrease cost-to-income ratios is driving the outsourcing of related activities including some parts of investment research. Precious human resources need to be focused on “core” business activities. Fund managers, analysts at buy-side and sell-side firms, brokerage houses and investment banks are seeking to decrease the cost of research.
At ValueNotes, our vast experience and strong domain competence in financial services positions us well to offer services across the investment research spectrum. Our services are delivered either through one-off research assignments or through ongoing research engagements. Specific services for both buy-side and sell-side firms include:
- Equity research / company reports covering company’s operations, financials, strategies, industry outlook, management, key positives and negatives, valuations, share price movements and future earnings projections
- Equity research support across asset classes including equities, fixed income, property, infrastructure, hedge funds and other alternative investment classes
- Sector research reports including equity research on key companies in the sector
- Index / share price tracking and monitoring (trading comparables)
- Financial modeling and maintenance for scalable and actionable investment analysis
- Investment appraisals
- In-depth proprietary equity research reports on Indian companies
Some of the investment and equity research projects that we’ve worked on include:
Created and updated financial models of selected global companies by integrating both financial and operational metrics. This also included projecting financial numbers based on underlying assumptions of growth. Stress tested debt covenants of these companies at varying levels of revenue and utilization, for ability to meet debt commitments. Analysis enabled fund manager to take an informed view on fixed income exposure to these companies.
Periodic updates of a detailed analytical financial model of all major banks in Australia. The database is updated overnight on the day of the results and enables the banking analyst of the client to take a future call on the stock the very next day.
Constructed a financial model of all listed property companies in Europe to enable the newly set up European property fund monitor key fundamentals in the industry.
Constructed a financial model of all listed infrastructure companies which included financial numbers as well as relevant statistics (for instance, number of toll roads owned and operated, lease expiry dates, concessions from the government / regulator, etc) to enable the client set up and monitor their listed infrastructure mandate.
Back tested portfolio modeling and allocation strategies of a major international fund manager for its effectiveness in delivering the best relative returns. Statistical methods used included Spearman’s rank correlation, standard deviation and co-efficient of variation. Analysis was also used to comment on the stock rating policy employed by the client and the extent of correlation between stock performance and ranking/rating.
Detailed statistical analysis of a major banking and financial services stock to establish its relationship (sensitivity) with global and local interest rates (nominal and real) and the benchmark index. Analysis included the use of correlation and regression models to explain past behavior and predict future movements.
Developed in-house financial modelling templates to evaluate select companies’ operations, financials, strategies, industry outlook, management and highlighted key issues affecting future earnings.
Analyzed the competitive positioning, management, financial structure, valuation and future earnings projections, SWOT and industry outlook of the target company to arrive at an investment recommendation.
Detailed reports of target companies for investment analyzing organization structure, business model, market positioning trends, product positioning, strategic initiatives, financial analysis, consensus analyst views, valuation, share price movements and projected growth.
Covered company operations, financials, strategies, industry outlook, management, key positives and negatives, trends and insights and valuation.
Modeled a comprehensive financial template to enable effective financial analysis of investments in casinos. Included historical fundamental analysis, forecasting tools, valuation, scenario analysis and event impact evaluation.
