NEW YORK (HedgeWorld.com)–Independent Research Group, a unit of TheStreet.com, has tailored its stock research to hedge fund needs and acquired clients in the industry.
"Hedge funds are currently a majority of our audience base," said Research Director Paul Noglows. "We think in terms of providing research that is of value to them." Interest comes mostly from managers of long/short equity funds, he added. The group has set coverage criteria so that it researches stocks that are likely to be of relevance to hedge managers.
One way it does this is by focusing on stocks that are typically small-cap to midcap, with US$200 million to US$2 billion market capitalization. "That size stock may not always be of interest to a more traditional portfolio manager but is of interest to hedge funds," said Mr. Noglows.
"We're looking for stocks that are under-covered by analysts. It is very difficult to bring value if you are the 38th analyst covering Oracle. But we can bring value to smaller names, where there are very few analysts covering the company. There are a lot of stocks out there today that get no coverage."
His team looks for names that many investors might not know. "Hedge funds are often interested in less well-known stories," he said. "That is part of our stock selection criteria."
