Typically in research a non-earnings day is fairly predictable with news flow, some client requests, phone calls and working on longer Primers/Initiations/Themes notes. However, these days can turn into disasters when you’re traveling to a conference to host investor meetings with companies under management.
4:45am: Wake up and get ready for work, taking an early flight so no significant emails to read
5:30am: Arriving at airport to attend conference and host investor meetings with company management. All companies are significant names and deserve 100% undivided attention, review content that was prepared until 11:30pm the night before
7:00am: Boarding plane, check news (nothing yet most stuff hits the wire at about 8:00am EST… Grab coffee
7:15am: Sit down in seat… Another buy rated name in coverage universe is acquiring a significant company! Quickly grab press release and write quick takes and ignore phone calls for time being
7:20am: Phone ringing, direct call from large buy-side client! Must answer and ignore everyone talking on the plane/shutting down electronics, give elevator speech on ideas while typing email about thoughts on second phone
7:30am – 9:00am: Write note and update model off of locally saved copy
9:15am: On way to conference send all items out to team for publishing immediately
10:00am: Host investor meetings all day while fielding phone calls and getting a transcript of the call that was missed. This is the most stressful time until market closes, as important clients will want direct answers, maximizing time is essential
4:00pm: Meetings are winding down… Preannouncement from another buy rated name! Grab dial-in information… Send sales a note about thoughts and quick info via blackberry
4:30pm: Fill in new guidance to update model, significant change to numbers, will dramatically change Price Target and Rating. Jump on conference call
5:30pm: Start note and finish model update while waiting for company to call back and answer questions that were not answered on conference call
7:00pm: Get approval for changes since price target moves substantially, must write significantly longer note and explain new vantage point
8:00pm: Head back to Airport to fly back, make edits from publishing
8:00-10:00pm: Review both acquisition announcement and preannouncement to be certain of investment opinions. Check after market numbers to understand approximately where the stock should open
10:45pm: Arrive at home to check email and remotely log-in in make sure notes are ready to go for AM distribution and prepare voice-mail blasts for AM distribution
11:15pm: Ready to sleep, but double check current model for off-season company that reports earnings in the morning tomorrow. Need to be in early to field calls immediately after the earnings print
Conclusion: While this turned out to be a high stress, constantly working with no downtime day, it is nearly impossible to pull a real all-nighter as a research analyst. Instead you can focus more attention on notes/models when the markets close and “quick-takes” are sent around to save you some time as you answer broad based questions and gather your thoughts.
