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

Fox says she was helped into the agency by Dallas Jones, who was then the CIA analyst in residence at Georgetown. — Ken Dilanian, NBC News, "Ex-CIA spy readies to publish book about undercover exploits without agency approval," 6 Sep. 2019 The analyst told him that French customs officers had seized 115 emperor scorpions in two shipments from Cameroon. — Jani Actman, National Geographic, "Bug smuggling is big business," 5 Sep. 2019 He’s since hired former UO assistant John Neal as a defensive analyst. — oregonlive, "Canzano: What the Oregon Ducks need most of all is Mario Cristobal to grow into CEO role," 5 Sep. 2019 The 46-year-old insurance industry financial analyst and Novato resident leaves behind a wife, Valentina, and three sons, Sasha, age 10, Jordan, 7, and Ben, 4. — Daniel Borenstein, The Mercury News, "Borenstein: Cyclist might be alive if California parks hadn’t ignored judge’s order," 30 Aug. 2019 At one of the sites, the Inside the NBA analyst was seen taking photos with a group of children, towering over them while holding up his finger to signify No.1 with the kids surrounding. — Georgia Slater, PEOPLE.com, "Shaquille O'Neal Dresses as Papa John's Delivery Man to Surprise Locals with Pizza," 30 Aug. 2019 Armed with that information, the analysts looked at areas where single women tend to spend more than single men and the US population as a whole. — Marc Bain, Quartzy, "The rise in single American women should be great for activewear brands," 28 Aug. 2019 Enberg, the eMarketer analyst, said the ultimate impact ‘‘depends on consumer adoption. — Barbara Ortutay, BostonGlobe.com, "Facebook rolls out tool to block off-site data gathering," 20 Aug. 2019 In 1985, the Hollywood story analyst Christopher Vogler put a summary of the book into the hands of friends, colleagues, and Disney executives. — Laurie Penny, WIRED, "We Can Be Heroes: How the Nerds Are Reinventing Pop Culture," 19 Aug. 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

12 Sep 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