LONG BEFORE REGULATORS and politicians confronted the waves of corporate greed and lax accounting inundating Wall Street, Charles L. "Chuck" Hill kept his finger in the dike. As director of research at Thomson Financial/First Call Hill monitors earnings reports that companies issue each quarter. He polls analysts to figure consensus earnings estimates-used by the investment community and individual investors to gauge company performance. Stock prices rise or fall depending on whether they meet or miss the consensus target.
But Hill and his staff don't simply repackage analysts' reports. They question how analysts calculate their estimates, and they can bring some pressure ...