#factset interview process

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Factset Interview Questions & Answers

Securing your dream job in today’s competitive job market can be a challenging journey. With the landscape of job interviews constantly evolving, it’s essential to have the right tools to help you shine during the Factset interview process. One powerful resource that can significantly enhance your chances of acing an interview is an interview question set. In this blog post, we’ll break down why…

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Becoming a professional in equity research requires a combination of knowledge, skills, and experience. Here are some steps you can take to enhance your expertise and become a pro in equity research:

Develop a Strong Foundation: Start by acquiring a solid understanding of financial concepts and principles. Familiarize yourself with accounting, financial statements, valuation techniques, and investment analysis. Consider enrolling in finance or accounting courses or pursuing a degree in finance or a related field.

Gain Practical Experience: Practical experience is crucial in equity research. Look for internships or entry-level positions at financial institutions, investment banks, or asset management firms. This will provide you with hands-on exposure to real-world equity analysis, research processes, and industry dynamics.

Expand Your Knowledge: Stay up to date with the latest industry trends, market developments, and economic factors. Read financial news, research reports, and industry publications regularly. Develop a deep understanding of the industries and sectors you are interested in analyzing.

Master Financial Analysis: Develop your financial analysis skills by studying and analyzing

companies' financial statements, including income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow statements. Learn how to interpret key financial ratios and indicators, and understand their implications on a company's performance and valuation.

Learn Valuation Techniques: Become proficient in various valuation methodologies used in equity research, such as discounted cash flow (DCF) analysis, relative valuation (comparable company analysis), and market multiples. Practice applying these techniques to analyze and value different companies.

Enhance Your Analytical Skills: Sharpen your analytical abilities by working on case studies, financial modeling, and scenario analysis. This will help you develop the ability to critically analyze complex data, identify trends, and make informed investment recommendations.

Utilize Research Tools: Familiarize yourself with research tools and software commonly used in equity research, such as Bloomberg, FactSet, or Capital IQ. These tools provide access to extensive financial data, news, and research reports, enabling you to conduct in-depth analysis efficiently.

Network and Learn from Experts: Engage with professionals in the field of equity research through networking events, industry conferences, or online communities. Connect with experienced analysts or mentors who can provide guidance, share insights, and help you navigate your career path.

Pursue Professional Certifications: Consider obtaining industry-recognized certifications like the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation. The CFA program covers a broad range of topics relevant to equity research and is highly regarded in the finance industry.

Continuously Learn and Adapt: The field of equity research is dynamic, so it's important to keep learning and adapting to new trends and technologies. Stay curious, explore emerging sectors, and embrace lifelong learning to stay at the forefront of the industry.

Becoming a pro in equity research requires dedication, persistence, and continuous learning. By building a strong foundation, gaining practical experience, and honing your analytical skills, you can position yourself for a successful career in this exciting field.

You Can attend a free workshop on Equity Research organized by Jobaaj Learnings.

Even though you are a student from any background or a working professional, Equity Research has become a must have skill in resumes and will give you a competitive edge in the job interview

Click here to register for free workshop:

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Intel says customers stockpiling chips on U.S.-China tension, raises forecast

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(Reuters) – Intel Corp forecast current-quarter financial gain and profits previously mentioned estimates and elevated its entire-year income forecast on Thursday, allaying concerns about a world-wide semiconductor revenue slowdown and curbs on U.S. product sales to Huawei Systems Co Ltd.

FILE Image: Pc chip maker Intel’s brand is revealed on a gaming laptop screen during the opening working day of E3, the yearly video video games expo revealing the most up-to-date in gaming software program and hardware in Los Angeles, California, U.S., June 11, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Picture

Intel shares rose 4.9% to $54.70 in extended buying and selling.

The chip field is in a slowdown, with analysis company Gartner forecasting a fall in world semiconductor earnings to 9.6% to $429 billion in 2019. Chipmakers have also been hit by U.S.-China trade tensions, including tariffs on some goods and restrictions on income to Huawei.

But the two aspects did not problems Intel, which was the 2nd chipmaker this 7 days to beat analysts’ earnings estimates. On Tuesday, Texas Instruments Inc was the initial, declaring U.S.-China trade tensions did not hamper its capacity to conduct business in China.

Intel’s Main Money Officer George Davis explained to Reuters it experienced resumed some product product sales to Huawei that comply with U.S. regulations, and that tariff threats involving the United States and China truly aided next-quarter gross sales.

“Customers involved about source hazard in the 2nd half of the calendar year related to people products pulled in some desire into the next quarter,” Davis reported in an job interview. “It isn’t a net add to the whole yr (forecast), but it definitely de-dangers some of the complete year.”

Intel reported second-quarter profits of $16.5 billion and adjusted earnings of $1.06 per share. Analysts on ordinary experienced envisioned earnings of $15.7 billion and adjusted earnings of 89 cents for every share, in accordance to IBES details from Refinitiv.

But it was the company’s forecast that drove up shares, with earnings and financial gain expected to be $18 billion and $1.24 for each share for the third quarter, previously mentioned analysts’ estimate of $17.72 billion and $1.16 per share.

The enterprise estimated 2019 profits of $69.5 billion, rather of the $69 billion it told investors to be expecting in April.

Intel also mentioned it planned to provide the greater part of its modem enterprise, such as 2,200 employees and a trove of patents, to Apple Inc for $1 billion.

Davis instructed Reuters the payment was all money. Intel will retain the rights to make non-smartphone modems for self-driving cars and PCs less than the offer.

Just after yrs of acquisitions exterior its main location of processing chips beneath prior leaders, Chief Executive Bob Swan has set a aim of turning into extra disciplined about paying out, slowing investments in places like memory chips and shedding struggling organizations.

Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities claimed the income had been a stage in the right route.

“We feel even further divestitures of non-main organizations would definitely make (Intel) glance a lot more interesting, when permitting management to a lot more intently focus on increasing core operations increasing the chance of potential execution, but we are not yet persuaded administration will transfer in this way,” he explained in a note.

Revenue in Intel’s shopper computing business, which caters to Personal computer makers and remains the major contributor to sales, rose to $8.84 billion, beating FactSet estimates of $8.13 billion.

Profits from its higher-margin details center business enterprise rose to $4.98 billion, earlier mentioned estimates of $4.89 billion according to FactSet.

Intel, the largest provider of processor chips for PCs for decades, has arrive to depend on information heart chips for most of its earnings advancement.

The enterprise estimated a $500 million following-tax get from the sale of the modem enterprise.

Net revenue fell to $4.2 billion, or 92 cents for each share, in the second quarter, from $5 billion, or $1.05 per share, a 12 months before. Internet profits fell 3% to $16.5 billion.

Reporting by Munsif Vengattil in Bengaluru and Stephen Nellis in San Francisco Enhancing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Richard Chang

Our Requirements:The Thomson Reuters Have faith in Concepts.

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Hospital supplier Owens & Minor expanding capacity to meet PPE demands

Hospital supplier Owens & Minor added shifts and expanded factory production time to meet global demand for personal protective equipment in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

As demand continues to grow exponentially, the Virginia-based company is ramping up production of face masks and other medical gear to keep up, CEO Ed Pesicka told CNBC’s Jim Cramer Friday.

“We are in the process of actually expanding capacity, but that’s going to take probably 5 to 6 months to make sure that you have the capability to expand that capacity,” he said in a “Mad Money” interview. “So that’s the time frame that we’re looking at for additional expansion, beyond what we’ve done already by running 24/7.”

Pesicka said Owen & Minor, which operates both domestic and foreign facilities, in January began running plants nonstop and in February expanded to four daily shifts as hospitals needed more face masks and surgical gowns to care for an high rate of patients diagnosed with the novel COVID-19, which has spread from China to across the globe. The company is considering adding a fifth shift as not to “wear our employees out and our teammates out during this time,” the chief executive said.

For example, one hospital client in New York that used as many as 20,000 masks per week on average is now using as many as 300,000 weekly, Pesicka said. New York is the epicenter of the coronavirus epidemic in the U.S. and demand for a range of more medical equipment has been met by a shortage in supply, particularly of ventilators to help mitigate breathing complications caused by the deadly virus.

“That demand isn’t just here in the U.S. That demand’s in other parts of the world, too,” Pesicka explained. “That global demand has increased exponentially.”

Owens & Minor has been around for nearly 140 years and employs 15,400 people, according to Factset. The health-care services company has a market value of $347.4 million. It supplies surgical gloves, surgical gowns and face masks, including N95 masks.

Pesicka’s comments come days after mayors and governors across the nation, including from New York and Illinois, have blamed the federal government’s coronavirus response on the shortage of PPE supplies.

Some of those officials and other groups have called on President Donald Trump to use the Defense Production Act to force companies to manufacturer and distribute items to address the outbreak, but the White House has only applied those powers to compel General Motors to make needed ventilators as of Friday afternoon.

Outside of that, the Trump administration has been hesitant.

“We’re getting what we need without putting the heavy hand of government down,” White House trade advisor Peter Navarro said earlier this week.

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Questions, comments, suggestions for the “Mad Money” website? madcap@cnbc.com

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The Definitive Guide to the Equity Research Internship

Ah, the equity research internship.

Sure, the industry itself may not be in great shape, but any finance internship helps, right?

Well… maybe.

Equity research internships are quite different from investment banking internships and sales & trading internships, even though they all take place at large banks.

That creates some opportunities if you use them well �� and some risks if you don’t:

Wait, Do Equity Research Internships Exist? Why Are They So Rare?

You’ve probably noticed that there are not that many equity research internships.

A quick search on LinkedIn revealed over 15,000 openings for “investment banking interns,” but only ~50 for “equity research interns” – and many of those were not for real internships.

There are relatively few ER internships because:

Equity research recruiting is less cyclical than IB and S&T recruiting, so groups hire “as needed.” It’s not as if a group always hires 100 people per year and then needs to replace them when 75% leave within two years. As a result, there’s less of a need to recruit interns to fill the pipeline. Some of the bulge-bracket banks do have structured internship programs, but there are still many fewer openings.

Everything depends on the Analyst in the group (the “Analyst” is the most senior team member in research). If they do not want interns, the group will not hire interns. Different Analysts run their groups very differently, so hiring practices vary more widely than in IB or S&T.

Interns are less useful in ER because they need to go through an entire quarter of company earnings to learn the business and key processes. A quarter lasts 3 months, so by the time that happens, the internship is over. By contrast, there are always random tasks and grunt work that IB interns can assist with.

So Then, What Do Equity Research Interns Do?

If you’re lucky enough to win one of the few available equity research internships, you should start by understanding what you won’t do:

Write equity research reports.

Speak with clients or other external parties.

You need to be licensed and working full-time at the bank to do those, so you’ll be completing the following types of tasks instead:

Finding industry and market data.

Assisting with model updates following earnings calls and company news.

Summarizing news and recent corporate events for your team.

Updating lists of comparable public companies and other valuation data.

Updating “primers” or annual reports the group issues on key verticals or sub-industries.

You’re unlikely to build a detailed 3-statement model from scratch or complete an entire valuation from beginning to end, but you may contribute to parts of these.

Similarly, you’re not going to draft a 100-page initiating coverage report as an intern, but you may contribute to parts of it.

Since there are no deals or pitches in equity research, daily activities are more about following companies and the market and less about responding to Urgent Request X from Client A.

Also, as stated above, equity research work and culture vary heavily based on the Analyst in charge of the group.

Some Analysts favor complex financial models, others like on-the-ground research, others like a data-driven approach, and still others focus on relationship-building.

But no matter how the group runs, your job is to make everyone’s life easier.

On average, you can expect to work around 12 hours per weekday, roughly the same as the full-time research professionals.

Hours will spike up during earnings season when everyone scrambles to update models and send out new reports.

Weekend work is not that common, but you should be available in case something comes up.

Who Offers Equity Research Internships?

The bulge-bracket banks, middle-market banks, and some elite-boutique banks have research teams and may, therefore, offer internships.

It’s rare for regional boutique banks to offer equity research, but if they do, they might offer internships as well.

Asset management firms such as Fidelity and Vanguard may offer “research internships” as well, but these are buy-side equity research roles, which are somewhat different from the sell-side roles discussed in this article.

Finally, there are dedicated/independent research firms that charge clients directly for research and which may also offer internships.

Examples include Green Street Advisors (REITs), Bernstein (diversified), Arete Research (TMT), Redburn (diversified), Agency Partners (aerospace and defense), and Telsey (consumer focus – has now expanded into IB and S&T as well).

Why Bother with an Equity Research Internship?

You would complete an equity research internship for the same reasons you’d complete an investment banking internship: to win a full-time return offer, to decide whether or not the industry is right for you, and to build a sequence of work experience.

However, “win a full-time return offer” is a less likely outcome in equity research because of the reasons mentioned above: hiring is random, and there aren’t clearly defined “classes” of new employees.

Which Candidates Win These Internships?

The same qualities that get you in the door for IB interviews are also important in equity research: a top-ranked university, high grades, previous finance internships, and accounting/valuation/financial modeling skills.

But there are a few key differences:

Market Passion is Critical – And you can’t fake it. If you don’t actively follow industries and research and pick stocks on your own, it will be obvious within ~5 minutes.

So Are Writing and Communication Skills – You may not do official report writing as an intern, but you will be emailing your team and contributing to reports.

MBA Internships… Exist, Kind Of? – Some of the larger banks do recruit on-campus for MBA-level internships, but it’s far less “institutionalized” than the same process for investment banking.

Off-the-Beaten-Path Routes Are More Feasible – This last point does not apply to internships quite as much, but it’s more viable to take the “industry expertise + a bit of finance experience” and win ER roles as an older career changer.

These points mean that it’s probably not a great idea to complete an expensive degree, such as an MBA, solely to get into equity research.

Some candidates make it work, but it’s quite risky due to the small number of internships and the lack of a structured, recurring hiring process at most firms.

The Internship Recruiting Timeline

At the undergraduate level, the equity research recruiting timeline has been creeping up, though it’s still not quite as crazy as the IB timeline.

Recruiting for banks with structured internship programs now takes place around a year in advance of the internship, so you need to start your networking efforts and technical preparation very early.

But again: most ER hiring is “off-cycle,” and even internship opportunities can pop up randomly, so you never know.

How to Get an Equity Research Internship

We cover the key points in the article on equity research recruiting, but to summarize:

You can submit your application online if the bank has an internship program, but networking works quite well for finding unofficial/off-cycle research positions.

Start by finding professionals on LinkedIn and then emailing them, or find their information through other sources like Bloomberg, Capital IQ, FactSet, or even research reports that list contact information.

Write a 5-6 sentence email to introduce yourself, and ask for a time to speak to learn more about opportunities at Firm X as well as their career paths; you can also ask questions about how the group is run (e.g., what the Analyst publishes besides earnings updates), why clients value the Analyst, and what the bank’s vision for its research division is. Focus on firms where there is clearly an open position (look on job sites).

If you legitimately do not know what you are doing (be honest), then do not attach a stock pitch, sample report, or model to your intro email (this mostly applies if you’re an early university student).

If you do know what you’re doing, do attach a stock pitch/sample report/model. For a quick test, take a look at our stock pitch examples and ask if you could come up with something similar in 1-2 weeks.

By the time you go in for interviews, you should ideally know at least a few people throughout different equity research groups at the bank.

Equity Research Internship Interviews

Assuming you network successfully, submit a good application, and make it through whatever online tests or HireVue recordings they require, the next step is real interviews.

You can expect the standard “fit” questions:

Walk me through your resume / tell me about yourself.

Why equity research?

Your strengths and weaknesses.

Your team and leadership experiences.

Your communication skills and writing abilities.

Technical questions are similar to investment banking interview questions, but there’s more focus on accounting, 3-statement modeling, and valuation since you do not work on M&A or LBO deals directly in ER.

It is extremely important to have 2-3 solid stock pitches – if you do not, interviewers will conclude that you’re not interested in the job.

You may get a written test or on-site case study as well, but it’s usually fairly simple: maybe 60 minutes to read materials about two peer companies and recommend one over the other.

A detailed financial modeling test is unlikely for an internship role, but anything is possible.

There’s a description of the internship interview process in a reader story of his move from compliance to equity research.

How to Prepare for the Internship

If you make it through interviews and win the offer, congrats!

Now you get to panic about how to prepare and impress everyone on the job.

Most of the points in our article about investment banking internship preparation apply here as well: Learn key Excel and PowerPoint shortcuts, practice reading annual reports, read up on your industry, take extensive notes, do some “pre-networking,” and try to reduce your smartphone addiction.

A few additional, ER-specific tips include:

Learn your group’s coverage universe – read up on the companies in it, ask for copies of older reports, and figure out the data your team likes to present.

Practice summarizing news and company events and shortening long articles into a few bullet points.

Practice listening to corporate earnings calls and summarizing the key points. If you can’t listen live, download the webcast afterward or read the transcript.

How to Make the Most of an Equity Research Internship

Many of the points in the investment banking internship guide apply here as well – but the division of work differs since there are no deals in ER.

As an intern, the only way to add value is to make other peoples’ lives easier.

That means doing the following will improve your chances of winning a return offer, or at least getting a solid recommendation:

Don’t make mistakes – always print and double-check your work before showing it to anyone.

Do the boring grunt work (data gathering and scrubbing, updating valuation information, etc.) that’s required and that no one else wants to do.

Take the initiative – if you find an interesting article or report about your industry, send it to your team and summarize the key points. If someone is wasting time on a task you could handle, volunteer to do it for them.

Figure out your group’s coverage universe on Day 1 and add each company’s earnings call to your team’s calendars if it’s not already there.

You should also use downtime to network, not only within your team, but also with other groups, such as sales & trading, and see if you can do anything to help.

Don’t do this every day or it will get annoying, but try to meet a few new people every 1-2 weeks.

Do all that, and you might just win a return offer – if there’s an opening, of course.

Equity Research Internships: Hidden Gem or Hidden Land Mine?

I think equity research internships are a bit overrated for the reasons highlighted above:

They tend to take quite a bit of networking to secure.

There’s not necessarily a structured recruiting process or a set number of hires each year.

And even if you do win the internship, the path to a full-time offer does not necessarily exist.

A research internship could be a good first or second step if your long-term goal is in the public markets (hedge funds, asset management, etc.).

But if you’re more inclined to the “deal” side of things (investment banking and private equity), I’m not sure I would recommend equity research internships.

With a similar amount of networking, you could win a boutique PE or VC internship that’s more relevant, and that fits your story better.

I’m not sure that research internships are “hidden land mines,” but they’re also not quite “hidden gems” in the same way some off-cycle internships are.

So… buyer beware, and if the internship seems too shiny to be true, it probably is.

The post The Definitive Guide to the Equity Research Internship appeared first on Mergers & Inquisitions.

from ronnykblair digest https://www.mergersandinquisitions.com/equity-research-internship/

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How to get started with gold-coin investing

Here is a good article about how to get started with gold coin investing. If you want to read the original article you can find the link at the end of this post.

Gold is a hedge against financial risk, and coins offer convenience.

You might think those annoying TV ads for gold and silver coins give coin collecting a bad name.

It turns out, however, that gold and other precious coins are the easiest collectible item to trade, whether you are investing in bullion coins as a hedge against inflated stock and bond prices or if you’re interested in building a special collection of rarities.

Barry Stuppler, a coin dealer in Los Angeles who is the president of the Professional Numismatists Guild (PNG), discussed how investors can get started with something they may never have considered before, or maybe thought would be impractical. The PNG is a group of about 300 of the largest U.S. coin dealers. There are high barriers to joining the guild, and these dealers provide liquidity to smaller dealers across the country. (Numismatics is the study of coins and metals.)

Stuppler is a former president of the American Numismatic Association (ANA), which has membership open to the public and provides support and educational services to collectors at all levels.

Bullion coins

It is understandable for investors used to the instant liquidity of the stock market to shy away from investing in collectible items, but Stuppler said during an interview that “rare coins have the best liquidity of any collectible out there.”

For investors, the revolution started by Charles Schwab SCHW, -0.02%  in the 1970s has led to very low commissions for stocks and bonds. But for many other things, commissions can be quite high. Even for an ordinary item, such as a house, you will typically pay a 6% commission to sell through a real-estate agent who uses multiple listings.

Investors looking to “play” the price of gold can simply buy shares of the SPDR Gold Shares ETF GLD, -0.34%  or various other ETFs and mutual funds that hold gold bullion or invest in shares of gold-mining companies.

But you can also invest in bullion coins, such as American Eagle one-ounce gold coins that are produced by the U.S. mint, which trade at low premiums to the spot price of gold. (The U.S. mint charges a 3% premium for new coins.) Their small size makes them convenient for delivery and storage. And the commissions for bullion coins typically range between 1.5% and 2%, according to Stuppler.

Here’s a chart showing the price of gold GC00, +0.01% in U.S. dollars, over the past 10 years:

The spot price of gold on the New York Mercantile Exchanged peaked at $1,923.70 on Sept. 6, 2011, according to continuous contract quotes provided by FactSet.

You can see that the price of gold in U.S. dollars peaked in 2011. But this is very much a function of the rise in the value of the dollar. The U.S. Dollar Index DXY, +0.15% shows the value of the dollar against a basket of other currencies. Here’s how it has performed over the past 10 years:

So when people say gold has been a bad investment in recent years, they may only be thinking about the metal’s relationship to the dollar. “In India, for example, it is at an all-time high,” Stuppler said.

Of course we cannot know how long U.S. interest rates will remain much higher than those in other developed countries — a major reason for the dollar’s strength. But it is conceivable that there will be a far different monetary environment at some point, which will bode well for the price of gold (in dollars) and lead to rare gold coins trading at higher premiums over the spot price for gold (see below).

Rare coins

This is where emotions come into play. You might find coins of all types fascinating. You might combine this interest with a portion of your investment portfolio.

A lot of people have a small collection of coins they have found to be interesting, quite possibly sitting in the top drawer of a dresser. Then one might be curious about rare coin listings on eBay EBAY, +0.20% the aforementioned TV ads or even a telemarketer’s pitch.

Stuppler advises anyone who finds coins offered through these channels to be of interest to “call a professional numismatist and you will probably find they charge significantly less” than the TV advertisers and telemarketers, because of those businesses’ additional marketing expenses.

Barry Stuppler, president of the Professional Numismatists Guild.

In addition to the PNG and the ANA, there are state organizations that list accredited coin dealers.

If you are looking to invest in a rare coin, commissions can be higher than they are for bullion coins, but the U.S. market is still highly liquid. You can typically make a sale and get paid within 48 hours. Here’s an example of a rare coin that is easily traded: St. Gaudens $20 gold coins were minted between 1907 and 1932.

A 1908 St. Gaudens $20 gold coin.

Uncirculated St. Gaudens coins are trading these days at premiums ranging between 8% to 10% of the spot price for gold bullion GC00, +0.01% which Stuppler said was unusually low, reflecting the strength of the U.S. dollar. Stuppler said these coins typically trade at premiums of 30% to 40% over the spot price.

The Collectors Corner website can give you an indication of the scale and the liquidity of the U.S. market for coins. If you click on “coins” at the top left of the site, you can see the categories of rare coins that are available, and then click those categories to see the actual listings from collectors and dealers.

Commissions for rare coins are higher than those for bullion coins. They typically range from 5% to 10%, Stuppler said. But “if you compare that to any other legitimate collectible, the fee that auction houses charge can be 20% or more,” he said, adding that the auction process, including escrow, can mean a wait of many months before the seller gets paid.

Coin collectors can register collections that they want others to know about. For example, PCGS has over 100,000 registered coin collections across the valuation spectrum.

Collectible coins can be very expensive, and there are very serious collectors who spend many years — and many millions — putting together special collections. However, there are also collections that have been created for relatively low cost. Within PCGS’s U.S. coins category, there is a section for dollar coins, which includes 2,430 registered sets of Eisenhower dollars, which were minted between 1971 and 1978, for example.

Once collectors move beyond being hobbyists, they can be quite serious and build fascinating collections. “It does not have to be a lot of money. It can be anywhere from $5,000 to $5 million. They are typically long-term oriented,” Stuppler said.

We found this good article at https://www.marketwatch.com/story/how-to-get-started-with-gold-coin-investing-2019-06-25 By: Philip van Doorn and thought it would be very useful to our followers.

from How to get started with gold-coin investing

[calcbench]

Analysts, Can You Relate? A True Story

A senior research analyst we know, AJ, was interviewing for a spot at a large asset management company. As part of the process, AJ was asked to “review” a bank and prepare a financial analysis, to present at an interview in two weeks’ time.

At the pension fund where he previously worked, AJ had access to a range of financial data resources including CapIQ, FactSet, and Bloomberg. Now, on his own, AJ needed a way to access significant amounts of data quickly.

AJ, like many others, was accustomed to looking at 10-year history. After all, banks are cyclical, so you want to catch two cycles of information to understand how metrics behave over time. Manually collecting the data would have taken a week (and fingers crossed there were no restatements), which left little time for analysis.

What to do?

Fortunately, AJ had friends at Calcbench. Within two days AJ was able to collect the data he needed for the bank and export it into his model, an exercise that he said would have taken a full week to do on his own. In addition, AJ was able to move confidently into his analysis phase since the data was cleaned and vetted.

AJ — who eventually landed the job — was thrilled. “Using other products like CapIQ, Bloomberg and FactSet, you have to find the data,” AJ said. “At Calcbench, it’s the first thing that you pull up. You can see the financial statement in its basic form, just the way we’re used to seeing it. And it’s in line with the way the company wants you to see it.”

AJ was happy that the financial statements were not “genericized” like some providers offer. He didn’t have to interpret data or determine how to track it. Above all, however, he just saved lots of time.

So what’s this analyst’s plan moving forward? First, get settled in the job. Second, get the word out that Calcbench is a great tool for financial analysis.

What can Calcbench do for you?

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Rob Koyfman has been an investment analyst on Wall Street since 2002 with research and strategy roles at Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and most recently, Tekne Capital. Throughout his career, he has focused on analyzing equity and macro investments using Bloomberg, Reuters, Factset and Capital IQ. He graduated from Rutgers University with a degree in Finance and Mathematics and is a CFA charterholder. Rob founded Koyfin because he was frustrated with the lack of functional investment tools that were available when he didn’t have access to Bloomberg.Ezetech: Tell us about how you came up with the idea for Koyfin and the problem you were aiming to solve.Rob Koyfman: Investors and traders on Wall Street have access to powerful software like Bloomberg to help make investment decisions. The cost for Bloomberg and similar software is very expensive and ranges from about $15,000 to $25,000 for an annual subscription per person.Because of the high cost many investors can’t afford these software tools and are left only with options like Yahoo Finance or the basic services provided by online brokers like Ameritrade. I started Koyfin because I wanted to develop functional investment software tools at a more affordable price than what was currently available to investors.E: Could you share your thoughts on formalizing the research and planning stage for a startup business like Koyfin?RK: The research and planning stage for my company included looking at several factors to determine the feasibility of my idea. I was a user of investment software for a long time so I already knew the market to some degree.Speaking with many investors about their research process helped me understand the breadth of current offerings from existing companies and the potential fit for my product. Technical research helped me understand the feasibility of building my product and what kind of programming technology I would need to employ.E: How does it feel to launch and run a startup as a single founder?RK: Being a single founder is not typical for a startup. It would have been nice if I had a cofounder but unfortunately that was not the case. A lot of people originally told me that I needed a cofounder to start my company because that’s the typical path of a startup.But the whole point of a startup is that there are no rules or traditions that must be followed. The only thing that matters at the end of the day is whether or not you can create a product for which there is a need.E: How much does it cost to self-fund your early-stage startup to get it demo-ready for investors?RK: It depends on the product and how functional you want the demo to be. You can create a demo for under $10,000 to show to potential investors or users.I think it’s important to hire a graphic designer to make your product look professional which is as important as the functionality in the beginning. People don’t want to use something that doesn’t look awesome.E: Give us some insight into how to choose the right tech vendor and why you chose Ezetech.RK: I interviewed several technology firms and chose Ezetech over the other firms for several reasons.Firstly, Ezetech was small enough where I felt that my project would be given adequate attention but they also had a portfolio of completed projects that I contacted for reference.Secondly, I felt that Stan (CEO at Ezetech) and Patrick (COO at Ezetech) were genuinely interested in my project and wanted it to succeed. They took the time to understand what I was building in the short, medium and long term.Thirdly, I was impressed by Stan’s technical knowledge to help me make the correct technology decisions such as which programming language to use for my front-end, back-end and database. Lastly, I continued to work with Ezetech beyond my initial expectation of building only a demo because I was happy with the quality, speed and price of the development.E: In your opinion, what trait(s) should early hires and contractors possess?RK: It depends on the role you are hiring for but I believe it’s important to hire people that can learn and be flexible. For programming, the language du jour changes constantly so it’s important to bring on people who can quickly adapt.E: Is there any advice you’d like to share with aspiring entrepreneurs in the fintech space?RK: Three pieces of advice:1. Starting to build a company and product is very difficult because there are many unknowns. You’re never going to have perfect information but you must start somewhere. Don’t spend too long trying to plan everything before you to start building your product. An imperfect demo is better than no product at all.2. Being an entrepreneur is all about building something that hasn’t been built before. If it were easy or obvious, someone would have done it before you. That means having a vision or making decisions that others don’t agree with or just don’t understand. It’s great to listen to advice from other people but it’s ultimately up to you to make decisions because you have a vision that no one else has. If you get advice that something is a good or bad idea, the reasoning behind the advice is more important to understand than the conclusion.3. What I love about entrepreneurship is that the success of a company is objective and validated by observable metrics. For early stage companies, growth of the user base is key and eventually growth of financial metrics like revenue and earnings. You can find out pretty quickly after your product is launched whether your idea is a good or bad idea. In the traditional corporate world, success is dependent on many other factors like corporate politics. You will never work as hard for someone as you do for yourself. If you have a good idea, go for it! You only live once.We were very glad to talk with Rob about his idea, funding and how to choose the right tech vendor when starting a Startup.This article was originally published in Ezetech blog and shared with Medium community.For more founder interviews and interesting articles sign up to our bot.

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Morgan Stanley Affirms PayPal’s Dominance in Online Commerce

Morgan Stanley Affirms PayPal’s Dominance in Online Commerce

Morgan Stanley analyst James Faucette believes that PayPal will remain the leader in the online payment sector. The California-based company dominates the industry as they service 79 percent of the top 500 online merchants. In contrast, only four of the top 500 eCommerce sites accept bitcoin as a payment option.

Faucette, said:

“We expect PayPal to continue growing at or above the pace of eCommerce, and the network benefit of being a leader among merchants should continue to drive engagement higher,”

After the release of the Morgan Stanley report, PayPal Holdings Inc’s shares increased 3.7 percent on Monday morning.

PayPal Continues to Dominate the Online Payment Industry

Faucette believes that PayPal’s dominance will likely continue in the long-term due to its existing market share in contrast to its competitors. “With PayPal maintaining its massive acceptance lead among leading e-commerce websites versus other digital wallets, competitive concerns have dissipated, and the company appears well-positioned to disproportionately benefit from e-commerce tailwinds,” said Faucette.

According to an interview with The Street, PayPal CEO Dan Schulman expressed his skeptical opinion about bitcoin’s potential as a legitimate means of payment.

Schulman, said:

“I think right now, and we’re seeing this maybe more than ever, the volatility of the cryptocurrency makes it actually unsuitable to be a real currency that retailers can accept,” … “Because retailers have very narrow margins and when you have a bitcoin bouncing up and down by 15 percent over a couple weeks period, that can be the difference between profits and losing money on every sale.”

Furthermore, Director of Equity Research at Buckingham Chris Brendler noted that “it’s just not an efficient way to transfer value. It’s not a consumer-friendly process, and it’s not a merchant-friendly process.” Moshe Katri, the Managing Director at Wedbush Securities, agrees. Bitcoin would not have much impact on PayPal until the wider public adopts the technology.

While the PayPal CEO is not concerned about the presence of cryptocurrencies, Schulman sees blockchain as a technology that can enable innovation. “I think you need to separate out the bitcoin or cryptocurrencies as currencies and the underlying protocol called blockchain,” said Schulman. It isn’t a surprise considering PayPal recently filed a patent published on March 1, 2018, by the US Patent and Trademark Office that uses blockchain technology.

PayPal’s Strength in the Stock Exchange

In the last five years, PayPal Holdings Inc. had an impressive earnings-per-share growth record of 20.50 percent. The company’s shares grew nearly 74 percent in 2017 alone, while the Bitcoin Investment Trust grew 680.5 percent over the same period. At PayPal’s latest closing price of $76.51, it has a price-to-book ratio of 5.78, with the industry average is at 7.53.

PayPal’s share price has grown by 0.17 percent in the last three months. The California-based company is expected to continue leveraging the network effect of increasing its market share.

The Morgan Stanley analyst, therefore, remains confident in PayPal and does not view bitcoin as a serious alternative for online payment options competing with the likes of Visa, Mastercard, and PayPal. Faucette however, notes that cryptocurrencies like dash and litecoin could be a more suitable form of payment in the future.

Nvidia Stock Increases after Morgan Stanley Mentions Cryptocurrency Weakness

According to MarketWatch, Nvidia, the Santa Clara-based company that designs graphic processing units (GPU) for the gaming and cryptocurrency industry also experienced an increase in share prices after a positive comment from Morgan Stanley analysts.

The analysts upgraded the stock to “overweight” from “equal” weight and were optimistic about the artificial intelligence market. “It’s increasingly clear that all roads lead back to NVIDIA as the most direct beneficiary of trends in machine learning,” said one of the Morgan Stanley analysts. The analysis predicts a $258 price on Nvidia stock which is a little higher than the average price of $250.89 from 33 analysts tracked by FactSet.

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Veeva Systems CRM usage increased tenfold amid race to find COVID-19 cure

Veeva Systems can be found at many stages in the fight to quell the coronavirus epidemic, according to founder and CEO Peter Gassner.

In a world limited by social distancing and travel limitations, the cloud-computing company is assisting life sciences industry players in the research and development of new testing devices, treatments and vaccinations for COVID-19, the disease caused by the fast-spreading virus.

“We’re enabling them to [work] virtually” on the research and commercial fronts, Gassner told CNBC’s Jim Cramer in a “Mad Money” interview Thursday. “It’s a really exciting and busy time for Veeva and our industry.”

One of the products involved in the process is Veeva Engage, a customer relationship management platform tailored to life sciences companies. The system offers online video conferencing and content sharing applications. Health-care professionals are using the program to connect with doctors remotely to deliver care to patients, Gassner explained.

The video conferencing tools for Veeva Engage is supplied by Zoom Video Communications, which Gassner is a board member of. Some of Veeva’s clients include Biogen, Eli Lilly and Gilead Sciences, three of many biotech companies in the race to develop a COVID-19 treatment. 

“We’re offering that free to the whole industry until September. So we have more than 100,000 licenses provisioned, and the usage of that product is up 10x in just two weeks,” he said. “The energy of the life sciences industry, there’s never been a better time.”

As for Veeva stock, it’s trying to return to better days along with the rest of Wall Street.

Shares are down nearly $18 from their Feb. 20 close of $164.97. The stock has attempted to climb through a volatile market since placing a bottom near $118 on March 17, according to Factset.

In the past five years, however, equity in Veeva has grown 480%.

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