Research

With a passion for identifying growing companies with unique value and tremendous potential, Jefferies' award-winning research team expanded coverage 20 percent to include more than 1,300 companies. Our analysts combine a natural inquisitiveness and analytical acumen to provide thought-provoking, objective research for institutional investors globally.

	#1 research product, based on annualized return1
	21 analyst honors in North America and Europe

An industrious year in research & analysis

Award-winning research
Jefferies' research effort provided valuable insight for our institutional investors in 2006, increasing the number of companies under coverage by 20 percent, and continuing to gain recognition for the accuracy and objectivity of its analysts. Jefferies' equity research ranked #1 among investment banks for annualized return on analysts' stock picks among the Russell 2000 ¹. Equity analysts also earned five awards in The Wall Street Journal "Best on the Street 2006 Analysts Survey" and a total of 14 honors in the Fifth Annual Forbes.com/StarMine analyst awards for North America, the UK and Ireland, France, Pan Europe and the Nordic region².

During the year companies under equity research coverage grew to a total of 867, including more than 750 US-based companies and well over 100 European and Asian companies. We launched equity research coverage of US restaurants; electronics manufacturing services & electronics supply chain; managed care; and UK gaming & leisure, as well as regional coverage of the Japanese technology sector. We also enhanced our coverage of clean technology, healthcare, energy, shipping and technology, in both the US and Europe. Since year-end, we've added a number of new equity research analysts both in the US and internationally, including global transportation and logistics and regional coverage of India, China and Southeast Asia.

Jefferies hosted 11 industry conferences focusing on topical issues facing companies in such industries as technology, alternative energy/clean technology, gaming, lodging, media, entertainment, healthcare, communications, shipping and automotive. Analysts hosted 390 non-deal corporate road shows, numerous investor tours and field trips, and a weekly conference call series, and logged the equivalent of more than 800 days marketing to institutional buy-side clients.

Outside of equities, Jefferies augmented its high yield research efforts with a 30 percent increase in companies under coverage, now following nearly 400 issues, and our metals and mining analyst ranked #2 in the sector once again in Institutional Investor's "2006 All-America Fixed Income Research Team." During the year, our high yield analysts conducted quarterly road shows, visiting key cities in the US to meet with investors and introduce them to new ideas and companies, with a focus on the early identification of market opportunities, and a thorough understanding of complex structures and special situations. Jefferies' convertible research efforts continued coverage of the US, European and Asian markets, assessing convertible structures and offering valuable investing advice to clients, as well as financial statement analysis for the non-investment-grade universe.

Global Family of Indices
Jefferies now has a Global Family of Indices comprised of specialized stock, convertible and commodity-linked indices, adding another layer of insight to the types of securities we trade and cover. In December 2006, Jefferies launched a series of 20 stock indices to provide performance benchmarks for specific asset classes, sectors and company characteristics, including performance benchmarks of IPOs, companies that have recently repurchased shares or emerged from bankruptcy, and companies in the clean technology and energy sectors, among others. In its 13th year of tracking convertibles, the Jefferies Active Convertible Index, a leading barometer of the global convertible bond universe, continued to serve as a dependable benchmark for the convertibles market. The Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index serves as a leading global benchmark for commodities as an asset class. ETFs linked to the CRB Index are currently available in European and Asian markets. In addition, Jefferies' proprietary indices, which include the JCPI and JCPI-HE, have gained considerable investor interest since launching in 2003.