Kadan et al. (this issue) examine whether financial analysts exhibit industry expertise.
It is not obvious from the title, but the study actually examines two different types of
analysts: firm-specific analysts that have been examined extensively in prior research,
and the rarer industry analysts who provide outlooks on whole industries. This study is
the first to examine a large sample of explicit industry recommendations, and provides
a fresh insight into an important aspect of financial research—industry expertise. In this
discussion, I assess the motivation, contribution and empirical procedures within the
context of capital markets research on sell-side analysts