What is CFRA's Equity Research Methodology?

CFRA’s fundamental equity research analysts seek to identify the opportunity for excess returns by applying an “Expectations Framework” to determine equity recommendations. Our framework starts with the premise that equities derive their value from expected future cash flows. Therefore, investors are not just purchasing shares of a company, but are also buying into a set of embedded expectations about how that company is going to perform. CFRA analysts strive to correctly assess those expectations and use fundamental business and industry analysis to find companies whose shares imply expectations that are too optimistic or pessimistic. Having this variant perception is what ultimately drives the excess returns.