Cormark analyst Richard Tse wins Brendan Wood Top Gun Award for Canadian Tech

Cormark Securities analyst Richard Tse has won the 2014 Brendan Wood International award for top high tech analyst in Canada.

The awards, which were handed out in mid-August, celebrate what Brendan Wood says is the “highest accreditation available” because it is based on institutional commission dollars as well as the quality of each analyst’s work.

“Our firm began asking investors to quantify their commissions and rate the quality of service supplied by their broker dealers thirty five years ago,” said Chairman Brendan Wood. “Today our worldwide investor panel also reports their ratings of some 2000 major corporate issuers. These evaluations of corporate investment targets accompany and frequently align investors’ ‘votes to pay’ the analysts who add the most value to their investment decision process, relating to particular investment targets. The optimal performance of investment analysts is not only quantified in commission dollars but on a stock by stock quality basis as attested to by corporate issuers on whom analysts publish their reports. Corporate respect for the quality of a firm’s research often contributes to the corporate issuer’s perception of the firm’s credibility with investors and thence to the inclusion of that firm in the corporation’s banking group.

Tse entered the world of capital markets after gaining operations and corporate experience with Nortel Networks. Formerly with National Bank and Merrill Lynch, the analyst has been top-ranked since 2005 in broker surveys from Starmine, Greenwich and Brendan Wood. He joined Cormark in June of 2010. His coverage universe includes stocks such as CGI Group, Mitel, OpenText and BlackBerry.

Difference Capital Managing Director Tom Astle, who worked the sell-side with Tse at Merrill, says the award doesn’t surprise him.

“After working with him for many years, I couldn’t think of a more deserving guy,” says Astle. “He digs deep, is insightful, and always has a clear view.”

Overall the Canada’s TopGun Analyst of the Year for Canada was Mario Mendonca of TD Securities for his research on Banks and Insurance issuers.