Imperial Capital
Imperial Capital, LLC
Imperial Capital is a Los Angeles-based middle-market investment bank founded in 1997. It built its name in high-yield, distressed and special-situations credit trading and research, and now concentrates on M&A, restructuring, valuation and capital-markets advisory.
Company history
Jason Reese and Randall Wooster founded Imperial Capital in 1997 from a unit of Imperial Credit Industries, building investment banking, institutional sales and trading, and research across issuers' capital structures. It formed a Houston energy group by acquiring Petrobridge in 2009 and postponed a planned New York Stock Exchange IPO in 2010. In July 2026 Raymond James acquired its institutional fixed-income sales and trading business, including fixed-income research staff.
- 1997Founded in Los Angeles by Jason Reese and Randall Wooster
- 2009Acquires Petrobridge, opening Houston energy group
- 2010Postpones planned initial public offering
- 2026Sells fixed-income sales and trading business to Raymond James
Research
Imperial's research covered securities across issuers' capital structures, with emphasis on high-yield, distressed and special-situations credit. Its equity analysts included a security and defense franchise led by Jeff Kessler until his 2021 retirement and then by Brian Ruttenbur. Equity ratings were Outperform, In-Line and Underperform, for expected total return at least 10% above, in line with, or at least 10% below a basket of like securities over 12 months.
Coverage12M
- Stocks
- 1
- Ratings
- 1
- Price targets
- 0
- Upgrades
- 0
- Downgrades
- 0
- Initiations
- 0
- Reiterations
- 1
- Positive0%0
- Neutral0%0
- Negative100%1
Sectors
Ratings
Listing
Activity24M
Most covered24M
| Stock | Rating | Target |
|---|---|---|
 IMOImperial Oil Limited | Sell | — |
Recent actions
| Stock | Rating action | Rating | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Imperial Oil LimitedIMO | Reiterate | Sell | Jun 23 |
 Napco Security Technologies, Inc.NSSC | Downgrade | Outperform →In Line | Feb 6, 2024 |
| AMAmbarella, Inc.AMBA | Upgrade | In Line →Outperform | Apr 6, 2023 |
| REResideo Technologies, Inc.REZI | Downgrade | Outperform →In Line | Nov 2, 2022 |
| SMSmartRent, Inc.SMRT | Reiterate | Outperform | Aug 16, 2022 |
| HLHolley Inc.HLLY | Reiterate | Outperform | Aug 9, 2022 |
| AVAeroVironment, Inc.AVAV | Reiterate | In Line | Aug 27, 2021 |
| OSOSI Systems, Inc.OSIS | Reiterate | Outperform | Jul 27, 2021 |
| ALAlarm.com Holdings, Inc.ALRM | Upgrade | In Line →Outperform | Apr 8, 2021 |
 Caesars Entertainment, Inc.CZR | Downgrade | Outperform →In Line | Nov 25, 2020 |
| CRCalifornia Resources CorporationCRC | Upgrade | In Line →Outperform | Nov 25, 2020 |
| SPSpectrum Brands Holdings, Inc.SPB | Reiterate | Outperform | Nov 25, 2020 |
References
- Imperial Capital – Our Firmimperialcapital.com
- Los Angeles Times – Imperial Capital Group plans $150-million IPO (Oct 2009)latimes.com
- Los Angeles Business Journal – Imperial Capital Postpones IPO (Feb 2010)labusinessjournal.com
- Wealth Solutions Report – Raymond James Acquires Imperial Capital Fixed-Income Business (Aug 2026)wealthsolutionsreport.com
- SecurityInfoWatch – Jeff Kessler retires as security industry analyst at Imperial Capital (2021)securityinfowatch.com
- Imperial Capital research with rating definitions (2021)securitysolutionswatch.com