Securities Analysts also called, Financial Analysts and Investment Analysts, work for banks, insurance companies, mutual and pension funds, securities firms, and other businesses, helping these companies or their clients make investment decisions.
Financial analysts employed in commercial lending examine the audited financial statements and corollary data in order to assess lending risks and perform "balance sheet analysis". In a brokerage house or investment bank, they study company financial statements and analyze commodity prices, sales, costs, expenses, and tax rates so as to determine a company's value and project its future earnings.
The brokerage houses utilize the expertise of their research department to provide this company related information and the people involved in such research are called securities analysts or market analysts. Their job is to research and evaluate companies, find out their profitability, look for indications of growth and expansion, project the company's future earnings and on the basis of their observations, make recommendations to clients on which securities to buy or sell.The employability of securities analysts may be as Sell Side Analysts - working for broker-dealers (and indirectly for broker dealer trading customers) or as Buy Side Analysts- who work for institutional investors such as hedge funds, mutual funds, pension funds, proprietary trading operation of banks and brokers, endowments and insurance companies.
Some also work as freelance or independent analysts, and they themselves refrain from securities transactions.The aptitude required by a securities analyst apart from having done post graduation in Finance is to be quick with numbers and ability to read and interpret financial statements and thereby draw effective conclusions with respect to the health of the company or its future prospects.
Job Prospects: The job prospects increase during bull market and decrease in bear markets causing layoffs. Analysts find employment in brokerage firms, securities firms, mutual and pension funds, investment banks, merchant banks etc. They can also start their own consultancy.