A day in the life of an equities analyst at Rothschild & Co Redburn

Fergus Neve is an oil & gas analyst at Rothschild & Co Redburn, where he covers European oil & gas supermajors from London. Fergus joined Rothschild & Co Redburn two years ago from an audit role at Big Four firm KPMG. This is a typical day in his life.

05:40 – It’s an early start for me. I’m efficient in the mornings – within 20 minutes I’m out the door, and I aim to be sitting at my desk at 6:30 at the latest. If it’s been a busy news cycle overnight, I read  Bloomberg, FT, Reuters and CNBC on the tube to keep track of what needs to be discussed at work.

06:30 – The first half an hour of the day is all about the news. Our team circulates a summary of global headlines, and I review them to form a view on what's happened in the commodities industry. If there is any material news we write a short, concise comment on the news and post it straight to our website – within strict character limits from a compliance perspective. It means that if something relevant to a stock comes out, we can react to it quickly, rather than having to write a full note with all the disclosures. 

07:00 – We have the sales-trading meeting at around this time. Analysts can give a two-minute snapshot of anything interesting in their sector; new research, geopolitical shifts, or ad hoc company news. The traders can then take that to their clients. It's one of my favourite calls to listen to, because you get the breadth of everything happening across the floor, across all sectors, not just in oil and gas. With everything going on in the Middle East over the last six months, energy is a key sector. 

07:30 – After this meeting, we have a smaller discussion with our specialist salesperson, who is interested in sector-specific news. I'll do a five-minute comment on the macroeconomic picture and what the overnight news means for oil and gas. We then discuss other relevant company news within the wider energy sector.

One of my jobs as an analyst is to translate news headlines into explanations. If I log in and see oil prices are up on news of fresh escalation around the Strait of Hormuz, I have to be able to explain why: for example, geopolitical risk is a bit higher than it was on Friday even if the ongoing peace talks haven't broken down, so it makes sense the price has ticked up. We have a deliberately narrow coverage universe – I cover six large-cap stocks, and most of my colleagues cover around ten. You learn about these companies in-depth. The point of the morning meeting is to share that detailed knowledge across the team and specialist salesperson, who covers around 50 stocks and physically can't hold the same level of detail, but needs to know the three things clients will ask about that day. He's our microphone to the market.

08:00 – The market opens, and I start to cut my days into chunks. What I do during those chunks varies quite a bit. If I'm working on an ongoing research note, I'll do the analysis, build out the model in Excel, then write. For example, if I'm updating my modelling of Shell's production profile for the next five to ten years, I'll model it on my own assumptions using information I can find on specific projects, verify these against third-party data from the likes of Wood Mackenzie or Rystad, and compare it back to the company's own guidance.

Ultimately we're answering one question — is the stock a buy or a sell? At Rothschild & Co Redburn, we work on an absolute basis; it's not about outperforming a sector or an index. You form a view of what the stock will do, compare it to what the market already expects, and if you can convince yourself the company will beat or miss those expectations, you've got the basis for a call.

We put out short research notes, which can be a dozen or so pages and take a few days or weeks to write, but we also work on occasional hundred-plus page industry reports that take months. Rothschild & Co Redburn is a very unique place. We do deep-dive industrial work. Our research is never just about quantity – it’s about precision, conviction, and helping clients to make smarter decisions.

At the start of April I published a sector piece called Strait Talking, which set out our macro view, how long we thought a normalisation in the market would take, and which companies were best placed for it. That was a 40-page report, and it took me two or three weeks. A more recent note on TotalEnergies, my current top pick in the sector, was eleven or twelve pages and took two days, because it was more a reiteration of an existing thesis than a big modelling update.

Before any of it goes to clients, I'll talk it through with senior people on the desk and obtain feedback. It's much nicer to have your idea challenged by a colleague than to be defending it on your feet in a client call.

12:00 – I usually go for lunch around this time, usually to the café across the road. Once or twice a month I'll have lunch with a client to talk through the latest views. It's one of the nicer parts of the job – a more leisurely conversation than a half-hour call, and a good way to build and maintain relationships. Usually we’re joined by a salesperson, too.

13:00 – Back at the desk. Project work continues, or I pick up some client calls. There are also days where everything gets flipped on its head. A few months ago, a stock I cover – Shell – announced a large M&A transaction, right as the market opened. My day evaporated. It's brand-new information for everyone, on the sell side and the buy side at once, and everybody wants to know whether it's a good deal and why. You must move quickly, have the technical knowledge to form a view, and get talking to clients.

Rothschild & Co Redburn promotes diversity in the type of work employees undertake as a key driver of professional growth. For example, in March I went to Munich with one of the companies I cover and their investor relations team to see investors. This is corporate access and is a big part of what we do. We also have the opportunity to market our research and views, so I was in Paris and Geneva last week, too. These trips get more frequent as you get more senior.

16:30 – The market closes. There’s sometimes a post-close release to deal with, but after this point I’m mostly wrapping up.

18:00 – I usually head home. The US market is still open, and we cover both sides of the Atlantic from London, so I’m still locked in. Occasionally there are corporate events in the evening. They're great for meeting other analysts on the street and getting a feel for where opinion sits.

18:30 - I'll get home and cook if I can. It's a nice way to relax. During the week it tends to be something quick, and Italian: pasta and risottos, a carbonara or a butternut squash orzo. I'll go for a run when I can, and at weekends I still play team sports - hockey in the winter, cricket in the summer - though it's harder to make training in the week than it used to be.

21:00 – The US market closes around now. I'll keep my phone close until then in case a question comes through, but that stretch after I leave the office is fairly light-touch - it's a twelve-hour day on average. I try to be in bed by ten and read for half an hour before I drop off.

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