In the 48th annual All-America Research Team, the methodology has changed — but not much else has.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. continues its reign as Wall Street’s top research provider, taking first place in a revamped version of the AART, which has two significant differences from prior years. First, respondents’ votes are weighted based on how much they spend on equity commissions, as opposed to their volume of assets under management. Also, voters were asked to rank the top overall firms in each sector, in addition to naming the best individual analysts.
JPMorgan claimed 47 team positions under the new methodology, including 13 first-team positions. Bank of America Merrill Lynch took second place with 42 team positions, while Citi Group rose to third place overall with 39 team positions.
Citi’s move into the top three — displacing 2018 bronze medalist Morgan Stanley — marks the biggest change from last year’s AUM-weighted ranking of Wall Street’s leading analysts. Otherwise, the new methodology results in the same top five firms, plus UBS in a tie for fifth place with Morgan Stanley.
Three other leaderboards — representing two different AUM-weighted rankings, as well as a second commissions-weighted result which values individual analysts over teams — produce similar results, with JPMorgan claiming first place in each one. BofA Merrill Lynch holds steady at No. 2 regardless of how the votes are sliced; however, the bank ties for second place with Citi under the AART’s original methodology.
View all four leaderboards, as well as an article on the results and the full methodology, using the navigation bar at right.
To select the members of our 48th annual All-America Research Team, Institutional Investor solicited the opinions of directors of research and heads of investment at institutions with major securities holdings in the US. We received responses from some 4,000 investment professionals at more than 1,400 institutions managing an estimated $10 trillion in US equity assets.
This year, participants rated their top firms in each sector and then separately rated individual analysts or economists/strategists at those firms to create two distinct rankings for each sector. A numerical score was produced by weighting each vote by the respondent’s US equity commissions and the average rating awarded. The same scores were weighted by each voting firm’s US equity assets under management to produce the AUM-weighted rankings.
Using those scores, ranks were determined. Firms/analysts were designated runners‐up when their scores came within 35 percent of the third-place scores.
The individuals surveyed are kept confidential to ensure continuing cooperation. Voters are subject to eligibility requirements, and winners must achieve a minimum vote count. All ballots are subject to review by our Research Operations Group.
These rankings were compiled by Senior Editors Tucker Ewing, Denise Hoguet and Researchers Amy Tan, Denise Best and Xiao Lu.