Quant Picks: 4 Investment Banks and Brokerage Firms to Buy

With Goldman Sachs recently announcing it will give away some of its trading secrets to its clients, we decided to check TheStreet Quant Ratings for investment banks and brokerage firms that would be good investments. According to a recent article in The Wall Street Journal, Goldman already has a few software applications that its clients can use from their phones and computers. The firm is planning on commercializing these apps. It will also give its clients some access to SecDb, the firm's risk management database. SecDb makes calculations of around 500,000 different market scenarios, with over 20 billion prices and at nearly 3 million positions. Gary Cohn, Goldman's President, called SecDb 'a significant competitive advantage,' during an investor conference in June. Here are some of the best investment banks and brokerage firms TheStreet Quant Ratings says you should consider looking at. Number 4 is Lazard. With an 'A-' rating, the company's strengths can be seen in its revenue growth and notable return on equity. 3rd is, TD Ameritrade. This rating is also an 'A-.' TD Ameritrade thrives in its solid stock price performance and expanding profit margins. 2nd is Goldman Sachs. This too has an 'A-' rating. The firm flourishes in its solid stock price performance and reasonable valuation levels. Number 1 is Raymond James Financial. With an 'A+' rating the company's strengths can be seen in its revenue growth and increase in net income. TheStreet Ratings are algorithmic stock picks based on 32 major data points. S&P 500 stocks rated 'buy' yielded a 16-and-a-half-percent return in 2014, beating the S&P 500 Total Return Index by more than 300 basis points. For the full reports on these stocks, you can check out TheStreet.com/QuantRatings.