Extel’s 55^th annual survey reveals J.P. Morgan, BofA Securities and Morgan Stanley as the top US research providers

Extel, the leading provider of market sentiment in the financial industry, has today announced the results of its 2026 All-America Research Team survey, with J.P. Morgan maintaining their leading position by total published positions. Now in its 55th year, this independent survey determines the best-in-class sell-side research teams in the U.S. and gives buy-side investors a structured way to assess the research they use.

The full results and accompanying editorial can be found after the embargo: https://www.extelinsights.com/results/research-providers

2026 Leading Firms

J.P. Morgan maintains first place in the Research Team leaders table with 47 published positions. BofA Securities holds second place with 44 positions, up one on last year, followed by Morgan Stanley in third with 43. UBS makes the largest gain in positions, adding nine to reach 42 and climbing two places to fourth. Evercore ISI and Wells Fargo Securities share joint fifth place with 36 positions each, with Wells Fargo Securities rising three places from eighth after adding eight positions. Jefferies is seventh with 35 positions, up one, and Wolfe Research is eighth with 31. Barclays and Bernstein hold ninth and tenth with 26 and 17 positions. UBS leads Extel’s separate weighted ranking, ahead of J.P. Morgan and Evercore ISI.

2026 Analyst Leaders

Jefferies takes first place in the Analyst Leaders table with 43 published positions, up from 41 and a rise of three places from fourth. BofA Securities rises one place to share second with Evercore ISI, both on 40 positions. UBS climbs three places from seventh to fourth with 39 positions, up seven on 2025. Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo Securities share joint fifth with 38 positions each. Wells Fargo Securities makes the biggest jump in the table, rising four places from ninth after adding 12 positions. In the weighted table, Evercore ISI moves up a place to take first, UBS moves up two places to second and Jefferies is third.

The 2026 results reflect the opinion of 4,451 portfolio managers and analysts at 1,608 institutions, providing feedback across 60 sectors. 129,919 votes were counted in total. While the number of participating institutions is down from 1,705 in 2025, the voters are moving up the engagement ladder. 89 firms now sit in the top two commission bands (commission paid to the Street), up from 82 last year, while the lowest two bands shrank from 1,150 firms to 1,062, accounting for 88 of the 97 fewer participating institutions.

Investment professionals from the buy-side were invited to vote during a three-week period; increasingly votes are submitted centrally from investment management firms to reflect their formal internal research evaluation processes. This is designed to reduce the disruption to the industry and improve the accuracy of the final results. More than 300 firms provided centralized contributions in the survey, and these firms represented 49% of the weighted universe.

Ken Goldman, Head of North America Equity Research J.P. Morgan, said “Being ranked #1 in All-America Equity Research for the ninth time in 10 years reflects the strength of our franchise and our continued commitment to innovation. This recognition underscores the differentiated insights, high-conviction calls, and comprehensive coverage our team provides — delivering research excellence at scale with global reach. We are grateful to the clients who supported us with their votes.”

Esther Weisz, Global Head of Sales for Extel, said: "In 2026 we've seen increased representation among leading investment firms, and the outcome is a dataset that reflects the views of the most influential investors, those with significant capital allocation decisions. It remains the broadest and deepest evaluation of sell-side research performance, drawing feedback from thousands of buy-side professionals across a diverse range of investment strategies, sectors, and firm sizes."

For more information, or a demo on how to interrogate the data, contact Esther Weisz on +1 718 288 2068 or esther.weisz@extelinsights.com

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About Extel

For over 50 years Extel (formerly known as Institutional Investor Research) has offered highly-respected proprietary benchmark research and rankings, providing independent feedback on the sell-side and corporate performance; Extel aims to be the first-choice as well as independent validation source of qualitative market intelligence for all three sides of the investment community and has a global presence spanning Europe, Emerging EMEA, Asia Pacific, North America and Latin America.

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View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261019626802/en/

"...the outcome is a dataset that reflects the views of the most influential investors, those with significant capital allocation decisions."