Some Hedge Funds Benefit From Early Peeks At Analyst Reports

Hedge funds are increasingly and systematically getting advance information on what financial analysts think particular companies and stocks are worth, according to a new investigation by The New York Times.

Wall Street investors base their trades in part on what analysts say about a company's prospects. Because that information from analysts is so valuable, there are explicit rules as well as long standing industry codes to ensure that no one has access to what an analyst is thinking before the information is made public.

New York Times Business Correspondent Gretchen Morgenson says that not only have some leading hedge funds found a way to get the information in advance, they have been trading profitably on it for years.