A Day in the Life: Senior Analyst, Hedge Fund

5:45 a.m.: Wake up and check BlackBerry for any news.

6:00 a.m.: Check foreign markets on CNBC from home before I leave for work. Foreign stock markets and the futures market are a good proxy of how the U.S. markets will open.

6:30 a.m.: Arrive at work. Monitor foreign positions and comb through e-mail, checking for any upgrades or downgrades from sell-side analysts.

7:00 a.m.: Attend morning meeting with the other five members of our portfolio team. We discuss two positions. Company XYZ has doubled in three months and now represents a significant concentration of the portfolio. We decide to trim our position. The other stock has underperformed significantly. Our investment thesis remains intact, and we decide to schedule a call with Company XYZ’s CFO for later in the day.

8:00 a.m.: Receive phone call from a sell-side analyst that downgraded a stock I have a large position in. He explains his reasoning for the downgrade. I expect the stock to drop significantly and may use the opportunity to purchase more stock.

8:30 a.m.: Read the Sell-side analyst’s downgrade report. Revisit my financial model and assumptions. I disagree with certain key conclusions and check the pre-market trading activity. It appears the stock is down 12 percent.

9:00 a.m.: Notify the portfolio manager that I want to purchase more of the stock. He approves the decision.

9:30 a.m.: The market opens and the stock is down 15 percent. I contact our trader and let him know I want to purchase an additional 100,000 shares.

9:35 a.m.: The trader calls me and confirms he was able to find 100,000 shares and made the purchase.

9:45 a.m.: Meet with a colleague on the options desk for coffee. As an analyst covering three industries, I brief him on my industry outlooks. He is trying to devise an options strategy to capitalize on the volatility of one of my industries. I assist by notifying him of upcoming catalysts that will increase volatility in the industry.

11:00 a.m.: Meet with the portfolio manager to further discuss Company XYZ and why the stock is underperforming. He asks extremely detailed questions on the company’s inventory levels. I answer most of the questions but need to get back to him on others.

11:30 a.m.: Call up several distributors of the company to discuss inventory levels. Determine that inventory remains at all-time low levels. Write the portfolio manager a quick e-mail.

1:00 p.m.: Eat lunch with a sales representative from JP Morgan. The purpose of the lunch is to introduce me to a new sell-side analyst the firm has hired and to hear his investment ideas.

2:00 p.m.: Prepare for the conference call with Company XYZ’s CFO. Write down five topics I plan on discussing with him.

2:30 p.m.: Conference call with CFO of company XYZ.

3:30 p.m.: Discuss the call with the portfolio manager. We agree to hold onto the position.

4:00 p.m.: Go through e-mail and return phone calls.

6:00 p.m.: Prepare for earnings releases of three companies for the next day.

7:00 p.m.: Go home.