Equity Research Intern Review

We were given four stocks to research over 10 weeks, with training given in the first fortnight. The work is challenging, varied, but enjoyable. You are given ample support by your buddy, mentor and line manager, and the early careers team are always on hand to solve any broader issues with the internship. They allow you to approach each stock from whatever angle you feel most comfortable with, whether it be more qualitative, quantitative, modelling or valuation focussed.

Each stock pitch you give is listened to by various Portfolio Managers, Directors of Research, Analysts and other senior colleagues. They care what you have to say as a fresh perspective on a stock rating may prompt Fidelity to invest/divest in that security. Often, the stocks we were presenting on had split opinion within Fidelity and other research institutions, hence any strong opinion backed up with good evidence will be taken very seriously by colleagues no matter their seniority in the business.

Your buddy is your main port of call for any technical questions throughout the internship. They are someone who you can perhaps be slightly more relaxed with as they are recent graduates/previous interns, meaning they are far more empathetic. They are instrumental in showing you the ropes on the modelling, valuations etc. and a real sounding board for you to test your ideas on. Your mentor is typically someone senior within the business who you can go to to ask slightly broader, career-related questions. Despite being exceptionally busy themselves, the line managers are extremely selfless with their time and always willing to give advice on a tricky aspect of the thesis.

It comes as no surprise that a city-job will be very busy. Although the tasks we are set are pretty simple (should we buy or sell this stock; why?), there is always more work that you can do to make your thesis that bit more convincing/researched. There is no problem with clocking off at 7pm, but to produce a thesis which Portfolio Managers are interested in, the more reading, modelling, data-gathering etc. you do the better.

Your stock pitches are all your own work. You are encouraged to talk to other Analysts to debate points/have a feel for their views, but Fidelity want you to produce your own research, rather than regurtgitate whatever broker research/current Analysts say, as that adds no value at all. You have people to support you, but you need to be willing to work hard, ask questions, and conduct your own primary research, rather than take what others say as gospel.

Doing a chemistry degree means there is little overlap between this internship and university work. That said, the knowledge you gain of finance, and the analytical mindset that you leave with are immeasurably useful. So much of finance is surrounded by completely unintelligible jargon which makes it very difficult to break through into the city if you come from a non-finance background, but the training and experience you get on this internship fully equips you for a career in financial services.

Although we were all working virtually owing to the pandemic, people are exceptionally forthcoming and willing to help out. People seem to stay at Fidelity for many years and the staff all seem to really enjoy working together. Although equity research can sometimes be a bit independent, the Analysts are all very collaborative and always willing to debate points with you.