Equity research refers to the work involved in discovering the financial analysis of a company for the benefit of investors and others interested in the company. The main goal of equity research is to provide insight into a company's financial performance. This is done by monitoring a company’s financials, including ratio analysis, financial forecasts, cash flow outlook, and other means of focus. In conducting equity research, an analyst would speak to customers, vendors, company executives, and other insiders to get an accurate sense of what business trends are in the marketplace. They would also assess what impact these trends might be having on a company and its shares.

Taking all this research together, an equity research analyst would then recommend to investors whether or not they should buy or sell stock in a company. The equity research analyst normally shares their research and analysis in reports issued by their organization.‎

Learning about equity research can help you uncover the basics of fundamental analysis of companies. When analyzing a company's financial status, an equity research analyst might dig deep intofinancial statements, use financial modeling, analyze P/E ratios, assess valuation, look at forecasting financials, prepare earnings estimates, and write a detailed report on a certain company.

In this way, learning about equity research gives you a broad overview of financial performance metrics used by companies, and what metrics are important to investors. You become better equipped touncover the benefits of little-known companies and why they might be worth an investment in the future.‎

When you learn equity research, you can use that knowledge to escalate your career into important jobs like a sector research specialist, a market research analyst, a fund manager, a senior equity research analyst, and a chief investment officer. In these roles, you would work for either the buy-side or the sell-side.

Working on the buy-side means that the equity research analyst works in-house for the knowledge and benefit of the company's fund managers. These managers use the analyst's reports to take a position on the stock portfolio. An equity research analyst on the sell-side writes reports for the benefit of the external market, with the reports usually available on the company’s website and other financial news platforms.‎