What is an Investment Research Report?

An investment research report is a clear and well-detailed document that provides the primary goals, objectives, mission, vision, and scope of the investment research work. This is a beneficial tool that allows investment researchers to study, analyze, and demonstrate in-depth information, and analysis of the overall performance of the stock market, mutual funds, and other key aspects when it comes to equity and investment.

Based on a 2021 report published by the Federal Reserve, the year 2020 posted the lowest 10-year treasury securities yield from 1970 to 2020 with 0.89%. This is a drop from the 2018 and 2019 figures, which were 2.91% and 2.14%, respectively. The highest within this span was in 1980 with an 11.43% yield. As the world takes an aggressive stance to slow down the spread of COVID-19, the critical health and safety measures and actions around the world have made an enormous impact in the global economy, mostly the investment management sectors.

Thus, all types of investment research professionals such as global investment researchers, equity researchers, financial analysts, investment marketing experts, and many other investment researchers should record and examine their investment research process while creating a clear and systematic investment research report.

Different Types of Investment Research Report

Growth investments, company shares, commercial property, defensive investments, cash investments, and fixed interest investments are the different types of investments. For instance, if you own shares or equities, you may also get income from dividends that are effectively a part of a company’s profit paid out to its shareholders. Learn and understand the different types of investment research reports because your technique of writing is determined by the type of investment research report you will write. Read the following details below:

1. Formal Investment Research Report

This type of investment research report is composed of the fundamental details concerning the opinions of the investment research team based on the public documents, financial market databases, interviews with sources, and several non-public documents that the team obtained during the course of the research. Determine the goals, objectives, conditions and other useful aspects of the investment research work. Add the contact details and other personal information necessary, as well as the notes for disclaimer in the development and submission of the formal investment research report. For example, include some additional notes to inform the readers of your report that your research team aims to deliver impartial and objective assessments of companies, securities or other subjects, and the report is issued for information purposes only, not an offer to purchase or sell investments or other related financial investments. Thus, preparing an effective formal investment research report is important to enhance the understanding in various aspects of investment research work.

2. Investment Research Earnings Report

Develop a summary of the previous financial condition of the company last quarter or year while explaining the major financial issues that greatly affect the business operations and systems, especially when it comes to keeping up with demand and adjusting revenue projections. Elaborate the business activities and tasks such as spending, net loss, profit, company shares, and many others performed by the company throughout the previous quarter or year. Include the specific amounts and percentages along with the dates in real-time. Add some information of the company’s balance sheet as it provides necessary details on the total earnings, working capital, cash, convertible debentures, stock, etc. Writing a well-detailed investment research earnings report is valuable in collecting, analyzing and interpreting data and results from ongoing investment research projects in a company.

3. Investment Research Center Report

This report includes some in-depth information about the all-inclusive data and independent analysis on various investments such as mutual funds, stocks, ETFs, and closed-end funds. One example of an investment research center is Morningstar investment Research Center. It brings well-detailed financial information and opinions provided by their analysts to help people formulate informed investing decisions for stocks, mutual funds, and ETFs. According to a report, the value of assets managed by ETFs reached $7.736 trillion last 2020.  This is a sharp increase from 2019’s $6.194 trillion—a trend that continues since 2003. The total value of assets being managed was only $204.3 billion in 2003. So, write a clear and comprehensive report for an investment research center by providing the important details of the companies, funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), markets, and other investment portfolios.

4. Investment Research Marketplace Report

If you need to create a set of investment research collections on the purchases of several buy-side firms, we suggest that you write an investment research marketplace report. Include some information of the purchase investment research such as the activities and tasks of portfolio managers and analysts, as well as the purchase operations of the buy-side firms. After that, explain how to optimize the research consumption in the marketplace. Summarize the major points of the investment research marketplace and develop a conclusion at the end.

Basic Elements of an Investment Research Report

In this section, you will learn how to construct a remarkably written and well-detailed investment research report. However, an investment research report has different features. Include the following elements for you to create an impressive document:

Investment Research Overview: One of the fundamental elements of an investment research report is the overview of the investment research. Provide a clear and concise background, investment research scope and investment research method and investor profile. Clarify why you performed investment research in the first place. Start with a one-line summary of the problem and a detailed description. Support your detailed explanation with the underlying metrics. Then, state the investment research goals, objectives or research questions. Include how the investment research work guides new or amateur investors in the field. After that, include the methods used and the overview of the investors. Share the number of people and the criteria considered. Investment Research Findings: This part is the crucial section of your investment research report. Write the useful learnings and takeaways from the investment research by constructing a clear summary. Determine the most significant learnings while emphasizing their value. Then, incorporate detailed findings by indicating the average volume, shares outstanding, EPS, market capitalization, dividend yield, rate, institutional holdings, insider holdings, profit margins, operating margins, etc. Analysis and Recommendations: Write a clear, in-depth and well-coordinated analysis of your investment research work. Be careful of your limitations and only provide logical recommendations. Accuracy, Brevity and Coherence: Always be considerate to the readers of your investment research report. What are the key points they search for in your investment research report? Keep your report as accurate and brief as possible and maintain coherence in your words by applying the proper words in the optimal order. We suggest that you detail the specific completed tasks and activities that should be visible in the investment research report.

How to Write an Investment Research Report

Cheryl Strauss Einhorn wrote in the book Investing in Financial Research: A Decision-Making System for Better Results that while research is about ideas, the ideas are not enough because there exists a significant gap between having ideas and making good decisions about what to do with them. It is easy to invest in ideas, but developing sound decisions needs to build up conviction and maintain faith when it takes time to actually observe the impact of the decision. An investment research report can effectively outline and describe the outcomes of an investment research. Below are some easy-to-follow tips that indicate how to design and write a professional investment research report:

Step 1: Identify the Specific Goals in the Investment Research 

What are your specific goals in your investment research? First, you need to identify the specific goals in the investment research work that you will be performing. Define the purpose of your investment research or simply, understand your target  by observing the numbers, exploring the websites of investment management firms, and learn about leadership in financial and business investment.

Step 2: Make an Outline of the Investment Research Process 

Make an outline of the overall investment research process that you will be conducting throughout your business investment research. Take your time in carefully researching related success in the investment sector. Do this by mapping the industry, reviewing the literature and reconciling the narratives. Then, explore more by broadening your perspective as you determine good prospects in investing, craft great questions and conduct interviews.

Step 3:  Demonstrate the Possible Challenges and Analysis

Be specific as you demonstrate the anticipated challenges in the investment and examine your decision.  Consider the rival hypotheses and conduct pro/con exercise regarding the matter. Analyze future scenarios so that you are able to make a forecast on the investment and prevent unexpected financial investment issues. An in-depth and logical analysis of the investment will help you and other investment researchers to reduce uncertainty, set decisions and contemplate about mistakes. Briefly summarize your investment research findings and come to a strong conviction in your investment.

Step 4:  Proofread and Revise the Research Report

Review your overall investment research report and check if you fully include all the key elements in your report. If you notice that you overlook some sections that need sufficient points, we recommend that you edit and revise the document thoroughly.

Step 5: Prepare the Final Science Research Report

After the proofreading and revision process, you can now prepare the final investment research report. Add some notes and other messages you want to inform the investment research and development team on the ending part of your document. Skim your investment research report for final evaluation and quality check. 

FAQs

What are some examples of investment research reports?

Some examples of investment research reports are investment research earnings report, printable investment research report, simple investment research report, formal investment research report, investment research center report, investment research and strategy report, investment research marketplace report, long term investment research report, and more.

What to study before having a stock investment?

Before having a stock investment, it is essential that you understand your investment goals and objectives so that you are able to reach your desired outcomes in the proper way. Then, analyze your risk appetite carefully while contemplating whether you will diversify or not. Always set aside your emotions and use your financial knowledge concerning what you will be investing. Avoid borrowing to invest in the share market and try your best in conducting in-depth research.

How to make a stock report?

When you are making a stock report, it is important to use a compelling and well-designed stock report template. After you have a simple report template, list down the items with the cost/selling prices. Establish the dates for stock counts and calculate the financial projections, loss, or profit. Remember to use accurate and precise stock taking techniques.

What are the best investments for beginners?

The best investments for beginners are high-yield savings accounts, certificates of deposits, 401 (k) or other workplace retirement plans, mutual funds, ETFs, and individual stocks.

A 2021 report revealed that the personal savings rate was only at 7.6% in January 2020 as the number shot up to 33.7% in April, largely due to the coronavirus. The figure later dropped to 13.4% in December 2020. Despite the painstaking process in investment research, it is important to pause for deep reflection at the right time and strike fast where needed. Writing a simple and effective investment research report is integral in documenting valuable information in an investment research and in providing beneficial solutions to the investment research problems and other issues. To be successful in investment research report writing, we highly recommend that you carefully read and apply the aforementioned tips in this article. So, here are some of our downloadable and printable investment research report samples available in different kinds of formats. Simply click our sample investment research reports, investment research analysis report templates, and other business investment research report templates in this article and start downloading now!