Empirical Research Partners

Michael Goldstein founded the firm. Prior to launching Empirical, he was a senior quantitative analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein and later a managing director in equity research at Merrill Lynch. His career has centered on systematic equity research and factor analysis for institutional clients.

The firm provides subscription-based quantitative equity research to institutional asset managers. Its core product is a multi-factor model that ranks a broad universe of US and international stocks based on valuation, earnings quality, momentum, and risk factors. Subscribers receive the model's output and supporting analytics to inform their own portfolio decisions.

No, Empirical Research Partners operates as a research boutique, not a traditional asset manager. It does not manage public assets or offer commingled funds. The firm generates revenue from research subscriptions, which structurally differentiates it from firms with AUM-based fee models and their associated conflicts.

The firm's core client base consists of institutional long-only equity managers, including a historically strong following among fundamental, value-oriented investors seeking systematic validation and idea generation. The firm's unbundled model—selling pure analytical output without trading or corporate access—appeals to managers who want to integrate quantitative signals without ceding portfolio construction to a black box.

The model evaluates individual securities across a composite of factor categories: value, earnings quality, price momentum, and macroeconomic sensitivity. Factor weights are not static; the firm dynamically adjusts them based on an analysis of the current market regime and an ongoing assessment of each factor's predictive power. The objective is to estimate expected return, not to dictate a specific portfolio.

Empirical Research Partners is a small, specialized boutique. The firm operates with a deliberately lean team of quantitative researchers and analysts, though a specific headcount is not publicly disclosed. This compact structure is integral to its business model, keeping intellectual property controlled and avoiding the asset-gathering imperatives that can dilute the purity of a research process at larger institutions.

Yes, while the US Equity Model is the firm's flagship product, its analytical framework extends to non-US developed markets. The international research applies a similar factor-decomposition methodology to evaluate stocks across countries and sectors, helping global managers incorporate systematic signals into their ex-US allocations.