Episode 3: Brian McGough, Hedgeye Retail Analyst

Hedgeye: In The Arena

In this installment of "Hedgeye: In The Arena," host Daryl Jones is joined by veteran Hedgeye Retail analyst Brian McGough. Brian was one of the first members of the Hedgeye team and instrumental in taking the vision to fruition.

Brian and Daryl discuss Brian's unconventional ride to Wall Street, working on both the buy side and the sell side, the early days of Hedgeye and how he has solidified himself as one of the best retail analysts in the business.

ABOUT "HEDGEYE: IN THE ARENA"

Our Director of Sales Daryl Jones will be your personal tour guide into the world of Hedgeye and the investing world beyond. This podcast offers an inside glimpse into our "locker room," our failures, our wins, and most importantly, our investment processes.

Below is a sneak peak inside episode 3 with Retail analyst Brian McGough talking about his time at Nike.

“It seemed like a great way to just go to that next leg of just learning, like going into a company like being in a sausage making factory and you see how the sausage is made. And I'll tell you Daryl, those two years I was there at Nike - everything I did there from the IR part of it and the strat planning part of it and the acquisition vetting, it was like eye opening. I still do things here every day that I learned back then and that was one of the best transitions I've ever had.”

And below Brian talks about working on the buy side vs. sell side.

“When your sell side, you do work and you share it with people, you do work, you give it away. When you do more work, you give that away. And you actually did give it away in Old Wall. I'm doing quotes with my fingers now because you often didn't get paid for it. And your phone is ringing everyday at Morgan Stanley you're the man. My phone rang like 30 times a day, literally because there's always someone who wanted you. So if you're, and maybe this is like an insecurity thing, I don't know where you have to be needed and wanted and loved.
That's a great job because you are the man. Then you go to a buy side role, and this was an adjustment and this is probably why I only lasted a couple of years. Instead of doing research and sharing it, you consume research and you sit on it. Your phone doesn't ring anymore. All of a sudden you're alone in an office. You have to call up a company, you have to call up a sell side analyst, explain to them who you are and why they should talk to you. And that's just a really tough adjustment. I think the biggest difference is that, and this might come out wrong, but on the sell side, I believe, and I don't subscribe to this here because ultimately we have to be right and we have to be right for the right reasons and we have all the tools and latitude and blue sky in order to do that and do it well, but if you're covering your 20 companies over at a Morgan Stanley or a Goldman Sachs, you can still add value to a client and be wrong on the stock.”