Market analysts embrace the pun to get headline of the year award

Craigs analyst Chris Byrne got creative with his headlines. Photo/Supplied.

Writing clever, catchy headlines isn't just a preoccupation of journalists and editors.
Sharemarket analysts are also working hard to make their work stand out in the crowd and catch the attention of clients.

The trend has reached the point where Craigs Investment Partners now runs an annual Research Title of the Year award for the best headline.

Head of institutional equities Geoff Zame announced the winner in his daily newsletter, saying analyst Chris Byrne won a clear majority from the 11 judges following an exhaustive process that ended in the small hours only when the whisky ran out.

All five of Byrne's nominations originated from two struggling small caps – Metro Performance Glass and Steel & Tube. The analyst's two most popular titles, 'Bent out of shape' (Steel & Tube) and 'Nice glass, pane full outlook' (Metro Performance Glass), featured prominently in the judges' deliberations.

Incidentally, both these two companies also featured in the process last year with the prophetic headlines 'Tinted outlook' and 'Competition steel-ing volume' respectively.
Zame said the judges were somewhat perplexed that Byrne dominated the 2018 race despite spending the least amount of time in the office.

"Clearly Byrne's regular trips kite surfing and to the ski slopes have provided more inspiration than the four walls of the Vero centre with all five nominations delivering a knock-out punch."

Byrne's other efforts were "Glazing over", "Making a rod for your own back" and "Not quite meshing".

Other notable headlines coming out of Craigs included Adrian Allbon and Luke Mills' note on Comvita titled "Poor end to a sticky situation", Stephen Ridgewell and Sam White's "Going once, going twice" (Trade Me) and Wade Gardiner's "Shuffling the decks" note on Sky City.

Even the click bait artists at the Business Herald are impressed! Keep up the good work.