March 11, 2026

How Often Do Analysts Pick Up Coverage of a Previously Covered Biotech When They Join a New Bank?

Let us repeat some advice we’ve stated previously – it’s important for biotechs to build a “bench” of analysts and prospective analysts who know and follow their story. As such, biotechs should always be courting new coverage, not just to widen their coverage, but also as insurance against one of their existing analysts leaving to join another bank.

Failure to do so could mean that the ~four analysts who picked up coverage of your stock post IPO (because their banks were part of your IPO syndicate) could be reduced to three. Or even worse, should more than one jump ship.

Frequently, however, equity analysts “resume” coverage of some biotechs when they land at their new bank. Analysts are hired for good reasons, right? And their coverage list and relationships can form a big part of their appeal to a would-be employer.

But how often does that happen?

Methodology

Following on from our blog What Are the Top Reasons Equity Analysts Cease Coverage of Biotechs? (And Is It Because Their Bank Was Left Out of a Deal?), we looked at a subset of the 4Q’24 data (n=130) to focus on those biotechs whose coverage was dropped because of an analyst departure.

What did we find?

• Of the 40 biotechs whose coverage was dropped due to their analyst leaving, 15/40 (37.5%) ended up being covered by the analyst at their new bank. A minority, granted, but a large minority, almost akin to a coin flip.  
• On average, the “new” coverage took 197 days (~6.5 months) to occur (which would include any time the analyst spent out of the market, and/or time needed to get back up to speed with the story).

What can we say about those companies who were not picked up again?

• 12 of 25 companies in our sample were already covered by another analyst at the new bank, so, (re)initiation wasn’t an option.
• 2 of the biotechs in our sample actually ended up being acquired after the analyst left (so coverage simply couldn’t be picked up again).
• And for the remaining 11 companies there was no correlation between market cap and whether or not a biotech was covered by an analyst at their new bank.

Key takeaways

• Based on our data, there is a roughly 40% chance that one of your existing analysts will “reinitiate” on you if they leave their current bank and join another one.
• Because of this, biotechs should:
  • Maintain good relationships with the entire analyst family covering them at any given bank (Senior Analyst, Junior Analysts, etc.) in the hopes of avoiding a cessation of coverage in the first place.
  • Continuously seek “at risk” coverage to avoid their bench of “bench” of analysts being short-staffed.