"Andrew, we need to be the first call."

Those words from my Director of Research at Robert W. Baird (now simply "Baird") encapsulated a crucial aspect of Wall Street research. Being "the first call" meant publishing our analysis before anyone else's whenever news broke about the stocks we covered.

In the financial world, the timing was everything. A service called FirstCall, owned by Thomson (later Thomson Reuters), served as the primary platform for this race. Professional investors relied on FirstCall to access Wall Street research reports and earnings estimates. We aimed to have the Baird name appear first in that time-stamped feed.

This was before the Internet era and mass emails. The landscape was different, with a stronger emphasis on being the quickest to provide analysis.

The process evolved during my later tenure at Stifel, but the principle remained. After market close, I would write research notes on earnings, send them to our supervisory analyst for approval, and aim to distribute them to clients early the next morning. To ensure we were truly "first," I would call clients late at night, often leaving voicemails at 1 or 2 a.m.

Interestingly, in our post-COVID world, the communication methods have shifted. Voicemails have largely been replaced by emails, though the volume of information sent via email means much of it goes unread.

Reflecting on this practice from 15 years ago, my feelings about writing these post-earnings notes changed. Initially, I found it engaging, but eventually, it became less satisfying. My genuine interest was crafting deep dives on companies or industries or developing thought pieces that offered broader insights, especially when layering in a quantamental view as well.

Nevertheless, these earnings notes were, and still are, fundamental to a publishing analyst's role on Wall Street. They represent the basic expectations of the job, even if they sometimes feel like a routine exercise in information processing.

While the core task remains, at least today's analysts are spared the late-night voicemail routines. It's a small but welcome change in the ever-evolving landscape of an analyst’s day-to-day life.