analyst
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Definition of analyst
Examples of analyst in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Sherk spent over a decade at the right-leaning Heritage Foundation as a research analyst before joining the White House as a domestic policy adviser. — Brian Fung, CNN, "Federal officials raise concerns about White House plan to police alleged social media censorship," 22 Aug. 2019 When its ten-year bond yields fell below 2% in 1998, there was a lot of head-scratching, says Peter Tasker, a seasoned analyst of Japan’s economy. — The Economist, "The Japanification of bond markets," 22 Aug. 2019 Concerns about the safety of foreign diplomatic staff operating in China have increased since Michael Kovrig, a global security analyst on leave from the Canadian foreign service, was detained in December and later accused of espionage. — Sheryl Tian Tong Lee / Bloomberg, Time, "U.K. Government ‘Extremely Concerned’ by Reports of China Detaining Hong Kong Consulate Employee," 20 Aug. 2019 Fricker began working for the city in 1992 as a budget analyst. — Megan Becka, cleveland.com, "Akron mayor appoints director of finance, deputy director of finance," 20 Aug. 2019 This industry, which started in the 1990s and took off after the Great Recession in 2008, came along at a perfect time, according to Jim Costello, an analyst at Real Capital Analytics. — Patrick Sisson, Curbed, "Back on campus, students confront a challenging housing market," 20 Aug. 2019 Chaska native Brian Eayrs, a Seahawks research analyst, was an intern with the Vikings. — Charley Walters, Twin Cities, "Charley Walters: Twins hit the jackpot with Luis Arraez," 17 Aug. 2019 Harry Markopolos, a financial analyst and corporate fraud expert who was the first person to expose the Ponzi scheme of investment manager Bernie Madoff, released a 175-page report on Thursday morning scrutinizing General Electric's finances. — Sergio Chapa, Houston Chronicle, "Fraud Expert: GE used Baker Hughes as a vehicle to hide multi-billion dollar losses," 15 Aug. 2019 But Samantha Jacoby, a tax analyst who has studied opportunity zones for the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, says the designation could also benefit Justice and his resort. — Ken Ward Jr., ProPublica, "Welcome to the Greenbrier, the Governor-Owned Luxury Resort Filled With Conflicts of Interest," 15 Aug. 2019These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'analyst.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for analyst
analyst
nounFinancial Definition of analyst
What It Is
An analyst gathers and interprets data about securities, companies, corporate strategies, economies or financial markets. Analysts are sometimes called financial analysts, securities analysts, equity analysts or investment analysts (although there is a distinction among these titles).
How It Works
Much of an analyst's job involves gathering data from publications, researchers and other sources; creating financial models; and writing reports or making presentations. Analysts are heavily involved with mergers and acquisitions, consulting, corporate strategy, bankruptcy, and myriad other financially important processes. Thus, their projects can be wide-ranging, and can include creating a company's budget for the coming years; deciding what sort of buy-or-sell advice to give clients; evaluating the prospects for a particular security; or deciding how much to pay to acquire a certain company. Securities analysts in particular usually write research reports for clients and offer buy and sell recommendations.
Analysts work for public and private companies, nonprofit organizations, investment banks, brokerage firms, insurance companies, government entities and nearly any other organization that is concerned about making sound financial decisions. They must be able to work well with clients, peers and their bosses; explain their ideas quickly and precisely; have presentation skills; and be extremely confident with spreadsheets and numbers. Some travel a lot. Analysts typically work considerably long work weeks, particularly early in their careers.
Analysts often have undergraduate or graduate business degrees, but many investment firms train entry-level analysts, which means an undergraduate degree in business is not always necessary if a candidate shows aptitude. Some analysts also enter the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) program to further their credentials. Many analysts go on to become senior analysts, investment bankers, consultants, advisors and chief financial officers.
Why It Matters
An analyst helps people make decisions. Analysts gather and interpret data to do this, and quite often they have to project future events. To do this well, an analyst has to stay on top of industry and company trends, market trends, economic trends, new regulations, changes in accounting rules, and a host of other information.
For this reason, analysts carry a great degree of responsibility. The results of their analyses frequently determine the course of major decisions, and a mistake in a spreadsheet or an overlooked piece of information could mean inadvertently making the wrong decisions, which could have far-reaching effects on client portfolios, stock prices, corporate strategies or even a company's solvency.
Source: Investing Answers
analyst
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