This thesis consists of three independent research papers empirically addressing several questions relating to sell-side financial analysts and their role on financial markets.The first paper analyzes the behavior of analysts in the light of conflicts of interest.The second paper determines to what extend the informativeness of analyst research from an investor´s point of view depends on the regulatory environment of the subject company as well as the regulatory background of the institutional investors of that company.The third paper examines how the 2008 financial crisis impacted sell-side analysts´ behavior and performance, as well as stock market reactions to analyst research.
