analyst

noun

an·a·lyst | \ ˈa-nə-ləst

Definition of analyst

1 : a person who analyzes or who is skilled in analysis

2 : psychoanalyst

Examples of analyst in a Sentence

My analyst felt that I was making good progress.

Recent Examples on the Web

The problem for many analysts is that, with uncertainty over trade policies, businesses may be more cautious with capital expenditures. — Anne Sraders, Fortune, "Here are all the Recession Warning Signals That Have Already Gone Off," 11 July 2019 Many analysts and former players thought the umpire was unfairly harsh, that male players get away with much worse. — Heidi Stevens, orlandosentinel.com, "Put this Serena Williams quote on all the motivational posters. The world needs to hear it. | Commentary," 11 July 2019 Many analysts and former players thought the umpire was unfairly harsh, that male players get away with much worse. — Heidi Stevens, chicagotribune.com, "Column: Put this Serena Williams quote on all the motivational posters. The world needs to hear it.," 10 July 2019 Along with spreadsheet programs, like Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets, and other programming languages, such as Python, SQL and Julia, R is what many analysts use to gain insights from the huge amount of data that’s collected these days. — Dan Kopf, Quartz, "What R’s most popular tools say about the state of data science," 10 July 2019 Still, analysts and experts agree that the U.S. priority is to make sure the country is never again a launchpad for international terrorism, as well as the orderly withdrawal of most of its some 15,000 troops. — NBC News, "Taliban-U.S. talks inch America closer to withdrawing from Afghanistan," 10 July 2019 This coming from someone who recaps The Bachelor with the fervor of a sports analyst and watches literally every show on Bravo. — Anna Moeslein, Glamour, "Here’s How Much the Love Island Cast Spent on New Clothes for the Villa," 9 July 2019 Musk has told Wall Street analysts to expect 360,000 to 400,000 deliveries this year. — Russ Mitchell, latimes.com, "Tesla beats expectations, delivers 95,000 vehicles in the second quarter," 2 July 2019 The company has pledged to deliver 360,000 to 400,000 vehicles in 2019, a goal many analysts predict will be difficult to meet. — Reuters, The Mercury News, "Tesla delivers record number of cars, shares up 8%," 2 July 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'analyst.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Last Updated

15 Jul 2019

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More Definitions for analyst

analyst

noun

Financial Definition of analyst

What It Is

An analyst gathers and interprets data about securities, companies, corporate strategies, economies or financial markets. Analysts are sometimes called financial analysts, securities analysts, equity analysts or investment analysts (although there is a distinction among these titles).

How It Works

Much of an analyst's job involves gathering data from publications, researchers and other sources; creating financial models; and writing reports or making presentations. Analysts are heavily involved with mergers and acquisitions, consulting, corporate strategy, bankruptcy, and myriad other financially important processes. Thus, their projects can be wide-ranging, and can include creating a company's budget for the coming years; deciding what sort of buy-or-sell advice to give clients; evaluating the prospects for a particular security; or deciding how much to pay to acquire a certain company. Securities analysts in particular usually write research reports for clients and offer buy and sell recommendations.

Analysts work for public and private companies, nonprofit organizations, investment banks, brokerage firms, insurance companies, government entities and nearly any other organization that is concerned about making sound financial decisions. They must be able to work well with clients, peers and their bosses; explain their ideas quickly and precisely; have presentation skills; and be extremely confident with spreadsheets and numbers. Some travel a lot. Analysts typically work considerably long work weeks, particularly early in their careers.

Analysts often have undergraduate or graduate business degrees, but many investment firms train entry-level analysts, which means an undergraduate degree in business is not always necessary if a candidate shows aptitude. Some analysts also enter the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) program to further their credentials. Many analysts go on to become senior analysts, investment bankers, consultants, advisors and chief financial officers.

Why It Matters

An analyst helps people make decisions. Analysts gather and interpret data to do this, and quite often they have to project future events. To do this well, an analyst has to stay on top of industry and company trends, market trends, economic trends, new regulations, changes in accounting rules, and a host of other information.

For this reason, analysts carry a great degree of responsibility. The results of their analyses frequently determine the course of major decisions, and a mistake in a spreadsheet or an overlooked piece of information could mean inadvertently making the wrong decisions, which could have far-reaching effects on client portfolios, stock prices, corporate strategies or even a company's solvency.

Source: Investing Answers

analyst

noun