Spitzer-backed service ranks success of Wall Street analysts

Overworked, underpaid equity analysts on Wall Street just got another reason to fret. The Eliot Spitzer-backed financial data service TipRanks is putting their performance under the microscope.

The service tracks the stock picks of 4,300 analysts and determines whether their reports are translating into returns. No end-of-year bonus for those analysts who aren’t up to snuff.

Company Chief Executive Uri Gruenbaum says TipRanks’ algorithm shows that Oppenheimer’s Christopher Glynn is the top-ranked analyst on Wall Street. “Of his last 500 [picks], 372 generated a positive return,” he says.

The service is soon to announce a tie-up with a major index to provide brokers with other data, including good news/bad news ratios for companies.

The theory is that the more bad news, the worse a stock or sector might perform.

“We’ve been getting family offices and buy-side funds to get personalized reports to research the best brokerage fund for them,” Gruenbaum says.

The service is available to amateurs, too. Basic membership is free, with optional paid tiers.