News, news and more news…staying on top of current events is part of an equity analyst’s job.

Part of an analyst’s job (a pretty big part, by the way) is staying on top of current developments and how these may affect a sector’s or, more specifically, company’s performance. The internet has provided investors many sources for news, opinions and commentary, though some are more reliable than others. I provide here some of the news sources I use and have found quite helpful:

1. Company news feeds – Most public companies have news feeds that will send you an alert every time a press article is released. I definitely recommend signing up for these alerts once you have identified particular companies you would like to follow (e.g. Biogen email alerts at https://investor.biogenidec.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=148682&p=irol-alerts).

2. Google Finance or Yahoo Finance dashboards – By setting up a portfolio watch-list on either of these websites you will see related news items every time you visit the site. I also like their sector-specific new feeds as events affecting the sector or a competing company may have an impact on your company of interest (e.g. Yahoo Finance Industry Center – Biotechnology at https://biz.yahoo.com/ic/515.html).

3. Fierce Biotech or Fierce Pharma – These are a few of a number of Fierce products (https://www.fiercemarkets.com/). I like their daily news feed, which get sent to my email. They are a meta-news feed engine and get their leads from many reputable sources. They do a good job at capturing the day’s most pertinent breaking-news items.

4. New England Journal of Medicine – Yes, that’s correct. The NEJM continues to be the most impactful journal for the biotech and pharma industry. An article in this journal can have tremendous impact (positive or negative) on a company. Start reading it if you don’t already.

It is a must for analysts in the biotech/pharma world. 5. Wall Street Journal and Financial Times – These journals provide many macro-level opinions and news reporting. I find that they are more useful at capturing high-level sentiment than in-depth analysis on a particular topic, unless of course it is a special report. But they do capture the pulse of the economy and the Financial Times does well at reporting on news beyond the U.S. border. These are a must for those in the investment community.