![]() "But I think we can keep the doors open just doing regular business."Ĭonducting a regular business of sales and trading is perhaps more important at Hambrecht than at any of its competitors. "I don't think anybody prospers in an environment where IPOs and secondaries are not done," said Sherman Bartley, who is in charge of research sales at W.R. And despite any good news on the sales and trading front, underwriting revenues traditionally drive growth banks. Pacific Growth, however, like all the new faces, is still a bank. It is adding stocks as well, making markets in 400 names. The desk now has seven sales traders and five market makers. Pacific Growth added three sales traders in 2002. Nonetheless, some firms defy that pessimism. Ben Hovermale, head trader at San Francisco's Wells Capital Management, says large brokerages, such as the group led by the Four Horsemen, have abandoned growth stocks because they are out of favor with money managers. Not everyone is convinced the cycle for growth stocks has turned. "On top of that, their demise has created a vacuum in terms of the research that is available." "We've been able to add high quality people as these firms either go out of business or downsize considerably," said Steve Massocca, head trader at Pacific Growth. They are boosting the number of stocks they cover because the demand is still there. They are hiring because it's a buyer's market. The wave of layoffs climaxed with Fleet's decision to shutter the 700-employee Robertson Stephens.Īll this thrashing about by the elephants has created opportunity for the small- and medium-sized broker dealers that previously worked in the shadows or – in the case of ThinkEquity – didn't exist at all. Phase two led to fewer employees as firms fired staff. Phase one of this restructuring led to fewer analysts covering up-and-coming companies. ![]() In the past year the four acquiring firms began to dismantle their trading operations altogether. They refashioned them into large cap trading houses in the style of a Goldman Sachs or Morgan Stanley. Morgan Chase, Deutsche Bank, Fleet Bank, and Bank of America, respectively, all acquired the Horsemen in the late 1990s. Brown, Robertson Stephens, and Montgomery Securities – abandoned its original growth stock focus after being acquired by four of the world's largest commercial banks in the late 1990s. The Four Horseman of Emerging Growth, or H.A.R.M., as the old guard is known – Hambrecht & Quist, Alex. (Top Valley employer Advanced Micro Devices recently announced plans to fire 2,000 employees.)īoth groups say they are expanding for one critical reason: the retrenchment of the old guard. The locals are not hiring talent because Silicon Valley is booming. The carpetbaggers are not flocking to San Francisco because of its beauty, culture and progressive outlook. Bancorp Piper Jaffray are moving to San Francisco from the East and the Midwest. First Albany, Friedman, Billings Ramsey, Adams Harkness & Hill, and U.S. ![]() ![]() Hambrecht, and ThinkEquity make up the hometown contingent. Thomas Weisel Partners, Wells Fargo Securities, Pacific Growth Equities, W.R. These companies operate in the information technology, medical technology, specialty finance, wireless, semiconductor, online learning and other high-growth sectors of the economy. In their place has emerged a large group of locals and newcomers that specialize in analyzing and trading the stocks of middle market companies. Bank of America hired a New York-based executive to run an equity trading operation out of the Big Apple. Robertson Stephens went under this summer. The flurry of activity comes as San Francisco's old guard dealing firms retreat from the city, the growth stock business and even corporate existence itself. A slew of small and mid-sized investment banks is building up research, sales and trading in the city in a race to become Wall Street's dominant growth stock boutique. After three years of plummeting stock prices, massive layoffs and brokerage house retrenchments, San Francisco is coming back. The growth stock capital of the United States is rising again. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |