We believe that integrity is the core of our client relationships.
Integrity means that serving your interests, and yours exclusively,
is what is important. Consequently, our research is proprietary,
unbiased, and solely geared towards meeting your specific financial
objectives.
After being exposed to the conflicts of interest between equity
analysts and investment bankers housed under the same brokerage
firms, investors can be forgiven for questioning the value of
research. The integrity of investment research has correctly been
challenged by government regulators, the media, and most important
to us, investors.
Certainly there have been numerous recent cases in which conflicts
of interest have blurred or obscured the primary purpose of research
opinions.
As long as the 'sell side' of brokerage firms (investment bankers,
brokers) generate substantially more revenues than the "buy side"
(equity analysts), there is a potential conflict of interest.
From a monetary standpoint, the firms do not want to 'bite the
hand that is feeding them.' For example, a company that hires
a brokerage house to underwrite and distribute its stock expects
to see favorable research coverage. How often do we see a pure
'sell' recommendation from an analyst? Almost never. The game
on Wall Street is sophisticated, misleading and dangerous to individual
investors. It is difficult to ascertain the truth from the fiction.
And with so much information freely available to everyone, it
is not so much a question of access to information as to what
to do with it.
We do not generate research in a fashion similar to brokerage
houses - instead, we function as your 'gatekeeper'. Our
job is to filter and analyze all available market information,
derive our own conclusions, and, to the best of our ability, act
accordingly for you based on your Custom
Investment Policy Statement (CIPS).