[REBLOG] How to read an analyst report?

This article was originally posted on hp.com: How to Read an Analyst Report. Good read.

Unfortunately we can’t reblog this, read the original report and some quotes below. The advice it gets can be summed up as follows.

1. Picking a Firm
• What kind of analyst firm is it? According to Ludovic Leforestier of IIAR, the Institute of Industry Analyst Relations, an industry group of analyst relations (AR) professionals, there are three major types of analyst firms:
• The big three are Gartner (750 analysts and about $1 billion in revenue), IDC (1,200 analysts), and Forrester (300 analysts and about $300 million in revenue).
• Midsize niches, typically with five to ten analysts, are often focused on a particular area, such as ESG for storage or Evans Data for software development trends.
• Independents are a diverse category.
2. Does the analyst take vendors for clients
• “Is the report commissioned by a vendor or is it written prospectively?” asks Leforestier. “This is an important point: Although good AR people will avoid pay-to-play to get endorsements, some are known as analysts for hire. Check the research library on the analyst website and you’ll clearly see some are always writing positively about one vendor.”
3. Is the report pay-to-play? 
4. Where does the analyst firm get its information and analysts?
5. What type of deliverable is it?