BB&T shuts down transport equity shop

The Winston-Salem, N.C.-based BB&T Bank, which is facing profit pressure in account-based stock brokerage, will no longer provide equity research for freight transportation.    BB&T Bank will no longer assess transportation industry stocks as part of a larger move to close its equity research group division that provided analysis and recommendations to investors in various industries on how to allocate their funds and when to buy or sell stocks.
   Kevin Sterling, a well-known analyst in the freight sector who headed transportation research, emailed friends and colleagues Thursday to say that he no longer had a job. His transportation shop covered intermodal, truckload, international forwarding, logistics and express companies such as J.B. Hunt, Werner Enterprises, Swift Transportation, Marten Transport, Forward Air (deferred air cargo), Landstar System, Knight Transportation, Hub Group, FedEx, XPO Logistics and Expeditors.
   “Equity research has been under tremendous pressure across all of Wall Street since the early 2000’s, but especially after the ‘great recession.’ Declining commissions (cents per share), the growth in ETFs (exchange-traded funds), which has taken huge dollars from traditional money managers, and the growing cost of regulatory compliance, have each pressured results for Sell-side shops everywhere,” he said.
   Sell-side analysts work for brokerage firms that receive commissions on stock transactions.
   Their research is often purchased by private equity firms and investment banks to help them value companies for mergers, initial public offerings of stock and other deals.