The Institutional Investor Service is used to identify the best research teams and the best analysts for a given sector. The service meets a key informational need by listing the most accurate analysts and/or those whose recommendations have the most impact. Some investors choose to use the service to establish an objective order allocation system among their brokers.

It is important for portfolio managers to work with accurate EPS forecasts. Empirical studies conducted by Associés en Finance in fifteen European countries show that two portfolios of ten stocks formed ex-post, following the strongest earnings surprises, outperform significantly. Differential returns over a period of twelve months reach - depending on the year and country - between 30% and 50%.

To help institutional investors identify reliable research on a European scale, Associés en Finance evaluates the quality of European financial analysts' estimates in terms of earnings per share. Having determined objectively the quality of their sources, institutional investors may then systematize their order allocation and optimize their relations with their financial intermediaries.

Associés en Finance perfected a rigorous methodology for measuring the quality of analysts' EPS forecasts in 1994-1995. The methodology and its results on French financial analysts were published in an article by Jacquillat and Grandin entitled "Performance Measurement of Analysts' Forecasts" in the Journal of Portfolio Management, Winter 1995. Prior to this, the methodology was presented, tested, and validated among the 150 research teams in Associés en Finance's Consensus network.