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Part I | Part II | Methodology
In our polling for the 2006 All-America Research Team, Institutional Investor asked participating analysts and portfolio managers at asset management companies and hedge funds to name the boutique or regional firm that they believed had done the best research work over the preceding 12-month period in each of the 71 industry and macroeconomic categories polled in the
All-America ranking. We separately asked respondents to identify the sources of independent U.S. equity research that they found most valuable.
In choosing the best boutiques and regionals, we rank entire firms; any votes for individuals are aggregated with their employers’ totals. Scores are produced by weighting the number of votes awarded to a firm based on the size of the voting institution. The rankings are determined based on the numerical score each firm receives. II requires a minimum number of votes to rank a boutique or regional; firms met this requirement in 34 categories. The identities of the survey respondents and the institutions that employ them are kept confidential to ensure their continuing cooperation. Our boutiques and regionals ranking is based on the opinions of some 730 individuals at nearly 400 firms.
For independents — defined as those that did no investment banking or corporate finance — scores are determined by the asset size of the voter as well as the place (first, second or third) awarded to the provider by the voter. In our independents list we rank up to three top-scoring research firms; all remaining firms that received more than the required minimum number of votes garner honorable mention. Independent research providers met our minimum vote requirements in 41 of the 71 research sectors. More than 350 voters at 250 firms voted in this portion of the survey.
Our rankings of the best boutiques, regionals and independents were compiled by Associate Editor Sivert Hagen and Researcher Aizhan Mitteldorf under the guidance of Director of Research Operations Group Sathya Rajavelu, Assistant Managing Editor for Research Thomas W. Johnson and Senior Editor Jane B. Kenney.
