Broker-Dealers are usually trading facilitators rather than investors. Included in this group are sell-side research firms with broker operations, NYSE and Nasdaq trading desk positions of investment banks, investment banking client desks that execute buyback programs on behalf of corporations, private client firms that essentially act as custodians for high net worth individuals, and brokers that sell unit investment trusts or exchange traded products.
Emerging Markets - These investors focus primarily on companies in the developing economies of Latin America, the Far East, Europe, and Africa.
Hedge Fund investors have the majority of their funds invested in some sort of market neutral strategy. Notably, the term 'hedge fund' is both a legal structure (as opposed to a mutual fund) and an investment style. Nearly every firm that uses a hedge fund or market neutral style is legally organized as a hedge fund (and thus only open to accredited investors). Many are offshore funds that are unregistered, have no investment limitations, and are not subject to disclosure regulations. The common element is that any long position taken in a specific equity is offset by a short position in either a merger partner (risk arbitrage), an 'overvalued' member of the same sector (long/short paired trading), a convertible bond (convertible arbitrage), a futures contract (index arbitrage) or an option contract (volatility arbitrage). Because of the idiosyncratic nature of these investors, the fundamentals of their portfolios are not indicative of their investment styles. Thomson Reuters categorizes these portfolios based on its specific knowledge of the their historical investment behavior.
International - This style refers to those money managers investing the majority of their equity assets in stocks of companies domiciled outside of North America. In most cases, the North American portion of the portfolio is either too small or does not exist, precluding Thomson Reuters from determining an accurate investment style based on the fundamentals of these companies. For "Global" investors which have more significant North American holdings, a specific style may be given which will apply primarily to the North American portion of the portfolio.
Sector Specific investors have the majority of their assets in a single major industry category. Many times these investors are "forced" to own most if not all of the stocks in a given sector whether or not they are deemed appropriately valued. Since their portfolio exposure is linked to a single sector, their performance is usually measured against an index that is pertinent only to that industry. As such, tweaking the relative exposure to the companies that constitute a given sector will determine these firm's investment decisions.
Specialty - This category encompasses a range of styles that are not based on the financial fundamentals of the stocks in the portfolio relative to the overall market. Examples include investors that hold a particularly high concentration of a single stock or a very small set of stocks, or specialize in convertible securities. This category is also reserved for any institution or mutual fund that does not meet the criteria for any of the other investment styles. Thomson Reuters categorizes these portfolios based on its specific knowledge of their historical investment behavior.
Venture Capital and Private Equity investors are usually owners of public companies only when they have participated in a round of financing prior to an IPO and subsequently retained ownership after the transition from a private company to a public company. Other investors often consider positions held by venture capitalists as an "overhang" on the stock of a publicly traded company since VCs will typically dispose of their holdings of public companies during the first few years following an IPO.