Rankings based on returns of calls and accuracy of estimates StarMine objectively measures the performance of analysts based on the returns of their buy and sell recommendations and accuracy of their earnings estimates. The 2005 StarMine awards for Hong Kong and China are based on the 2005 calendar-year performance of recommendations and estimates on companies in Hong Kong and the mainland as recorded in the Thomson Financial I/B/E/S database. StarMine uses the global industry classification system (GICS) for its industry definitions. In some instances in Hong Kong and China, the GICS has resulted in industries that are not large enough for ranking purposes. Where this has been the case, StarMine has combined multiple industries to reflect the way analysts organise their coverage. For example, StarMine's automobiles and machinery industry is a composite of the following GICS industries: car components, cars and machinery. Analysts are ranked based on their industry excess return, computed from a portfolio simulation that measures each analyst relative to an industry-based benchmark. The top three qualifying analysts in each industry receive an award. All analyst returns are calculated relative to the return on a market-capitalisation-weighted portfolio of all the stocks in a given industry. For comparison purposes, StarMine builds a non-leveraged portfolio for each analyst based on his recommendations. The result gives the analyst credit for the amount by which the stock outperformed the benchmark. The resulting portfolio is rebalanced each month and whenever the analyst adds coverage, drops coverage, or changes a rating. To qualify for a 2005 industry stock-picking and earnings estimate awards, an analyst must have covered at least five stocks in a given industry throughout last year. If an industry has fewer than 15 stocks, an analyst must have covered a minimum of three stocks or one-third of the stocks in the industry, whichever is greater. Also, a qualifying analyst's industry return must have exceeded the return of the relevant industry benchmark. And, finally, an analyst must have delivered at least a three-star performance on his overall coverage as measured by StarMine's Coverage-Relative Rating. To qualify for the overall stock-picking awards, an analyst must have covered at least five stocks. In addition, StarMine requires an analyst to have earned at least a four-star rating on his overall coverage based on StarMine's Coverage-Relative Rating StarMine's proprietary metric, Single-stock Estimate Score (SES), measures the accuracy of each analyst's earnings forecasts. SES is a measure of relative accuracy; that is, analysts are compared against their peers. An analyst's SES can range from 0 to 100, with 50 representing the average analyst. To get a score higher than 50, an analyst must make estimates that are both significantly different from and more accurate than other analysts' estimates. To determine the winners of industry earnings-estimate awards, StarMine ranks the analysts based on their industry estimate score for the stocks in a specific industry. The 2005 analysts awards for Hong Kong and China did not cover CLSA and Lehman Brothers.
