Analyst Reading - Where to start?

There is so much reading to do in preparation to become an equity research analyst that it's difficult to know where to start.

My own opinion is there there is no single right way to analyze investments (although there are many wrong ways). Every analyst has his/her own investment style and will do things a little differently than everyone else. But I think it's very important that if you're going to be successful that you do have an investment style and are very conscious of it.

In addition, much of what you need to learn will be dependent on your investment style. A value investor will have a different set of core competencies than that of a momentum investor. For this reason it's very difficult to be a jack of all trades, and trade-offs are almost a necessity.

Therefore, I think that a good place to start is to give yourself exposure to as many styles as possible to help decide what makes sense for you. A good way to do this is through books that explore the investment styles and strategies of a number of successful investors.

My personal favorites are:
Investment Gurus: A Road Map to Wealth from the World's Best Money Managers by Peter J. Tanous

The Money Masters by John Train

The New Money Masters by John Train

The New Investment Superstars: 13 Great Investors and Their Strategies for Superior Returns by Lois Peltz

In addition to being educational, these books are all VERY entertaining, with stories that are as fun to read as they are insightful.