Morning

Get in around 7:30am, go through the news: world events, local events, events in sectors I follow, events in companies we own.  Go through all of the broker reports, upgrades/downgrades, and look for estimate revisions. Write a morning email to the firm about all of the news, highlighting the important facts – have to send out by 9:00 at the latest so the PM’s can have time to read it. If a company I follow or the firm owns reports earnings, go through the earnings and listen to the conference call. If there is anything “actionable,” alert the PM’s immediately, if not write it up and send it out to the firm. Some PM’s like just highlights, some like everything

At the Open

9:30 watch the open: look for any large movers – ie >5%. See if anything interesting is going on in the sectors I cover. If not, by 9:45, start to dig into research

From 9:45-12 (lunch), is usually a very productive and uninterrupted time period.

My goal is to find 1 good idea a week, but all funds are different. I want to find one idea a week that I can pitch to my PM. I may have to sift through 20 ideas before I find a good idea or the first idea may be great.

I usually walk outside to get lunch, because a break in the day can be re energizing, but many funds don’t leave. Seamlessweb is very popular at most funds because you can order online and not leave your seat. I almost always eat at my desk.

Noon

By 12:30pm, I am back to doing research. About once or twice a week I will go to a sell side sponsored event. This includes IPO/secondary roadshows, non deal roadshows (management comes around the street to tell their story), sell-side analyst lunches, or industry conference.

If I’m not attending a sell-side event, I will continue my work looking for an investable thesis.

Around 3:45pm, I will look at my bloomberg to see if anything crazy happened during the day in the stock market. I try not to stare at my bloomberg all day because it can be very time consuming, and it doesn’t generate any value. The traders will keep me informed if anything market moving in my names or sectors is taking place. After the close I take a deep breath, and keep working through ideas. I will often call a sell side analyst to ask questions and get up to speed quickly on a new name.

After the Close

By 6:00 I start to wrap up my day and print out any articles or financial reports I plan to read on the train ride home or later that evening. My goal is to not eat dinner in the office. This helps keep things steady at home with the wife. This is pretty standard for the industry. Go to sleep by 11:00pm and get ready to do it all again the next day.

By the way, it isn’t work if you love what you do!