The Equity Research department provides the firm's clients with in-depth investment analysis and investment recommendations. Acting as the company's laboratory for new investment ideas, it specializes in providing investment analysis on quality growth companies. Located together in our Chicago office, our equity analysts currently follow a universe of over 400 companies.

What differentiates William Blair & Company, LLC?
William Blair & Company enjoys a decades-long reputation for providing in-depth investment analysis on quality growth companies within five industry sectors:

• business services
• consumer
• financial services
• healthcare
• technology

Our approach differs from that of most other firms in that no attempt is made to provide research on all or most of the companies within a given industry. Instead, the role of the analyst at William Blair & Company is to select and follow only those companies that have above-average growth prospects and above-average quality--the thesis being that investing in these companies will generate above-average returns over the long term.

We use a number of factors in selecting a coverage universe of high-quality companies with good growth prospects. Among them are the company's product line, level of service and, most important, the company's management. In terms of growth, analysts look for companies that can sustain annual earnings gains of 15% or more over the long term. The research universe is almost evenly divided among micro-cap, small-cap, mid-cap, and large-cap stocks. In addition, the universe is well diversified geographically, with the companies based throughout the United States.