The Opportunity

We believe our research exploits inefficiencies created by the collapse of sell side research in the last several years due to:

1. TRACE & ECN's - TRACE has reduced the average riskless principal trading spread from 1 point to 1/4 point and ECN's have collapsed equity spreads as well. The result is that there are far lower commissions available to support research
2. Explosion of hedge funds and prop desks - many of the most experienced people who were on the sell-side have left for higher compensation elsewhere
3. Spitzer's Wall Street settlements - it is now effectively illegal for an analyst to pitch for investment banking business which had been a major profit source