O uso de informações por analistas de investimento na avaliação de empresas: à procura de padrões

Information is one of the knowledge workers´ main resources in problem solving. However, the nature of information use is not well known in this environment. Securities analysts are knowledge workers that use and produce information to evaluate companies and industry sectors to identify good investment opportunities. Capital market literature has been emphasizing the importance in using available information to identify opportunities, to give appropriate investment recommendations and then to get return of investment. It is an approach that does not make evident the information process - acquisition, processing, interpretation, and integration - to identify a good investment. There is a gap that suggests an investigation to know that process. The purpose of this article is to perform a qualitative exploratory research to map the information use process by securities analysts and to verify whether there is diversity or standardization in their procedures and decisions. The study followed the activities of 27 senior securities analyst during a company evaluation. The results and comments are presented to support the contributions of the study and their implications for the securities analyst work.