Research Report

A document prepared by an analyst or strategist who is a part of the investment research team in a stock brokerage or investment bank. A research report may focus on a specific stock or industry sector, a currency, commodity or fixed-income instrument, or even on a geographic region or country. Research reports generally, but not always, have "actionable" recommendations (i.e. investment ideas that investors can act upon).

Research reports are produced by a variety of sources, ranging from market research firms to in-house departments at large organizations. However, in the investment industry, the term usually refers to "sell side" research, or investment research produced by brokerage houses. Such research is disseminated to the institutional and retail clients of the brokerage that produces it. Research produced by the "buy side," which includes pension funds, mutual funds and portfolio managers, is usually for internal use only and is not distributed to external parties.