First Coverage Announces 2008 Top Performer Awards

"Third Annual Rankings Recognize Best U.S. Institutional Sales Reps"

BOSTON, May 19 /PRNewswire/ -- First Coverage Inc., a leading provider of
financial information management solutions, today announced the winners of its
2008 Top Performer Awards, which recognize the best institutional sales people
and firms in the United States. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc. (KBW), a
full-service investment bank that specializes exclusively in the financial
services sector, ranked No. 1, out-performing more than 250 firms on the First
Coverage platform.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20061128/NYTU160LOGO )

"We're thrilled to report that several sell-side firms on First Coverage not
only beat the market but also generated positive returns despite the crushing
credit crisis, a global recession and the Dow plummeting more than 35 percent
in 2008," said Randy Cass, founder of First Coverage. "In a volatile market,
it's even more important for portfolio managers to be able to find the people
and information that can add the greatest value to their investment process.
We're delighted that some of the industry's best investment professionals
participate on the First Coverage platform and congratulate them on their
success in 2008."

The First Coverage rankings are derived from more than 100,000 actionable
sell-side trade ideas communicated by nearly 1,000 sales people at more than
250 firms that participated on the system in 2008 and represent the only
completely objective evaluation of the sell-side. First Coverage's industry
leading platform is a web-based solution that simplifies the way that the
buy-side captures, organizes and evaluates all types of information coming
from their sell-side coverage. In addition, the system provides filtered
mainstream news, blogs, research and other communications based on the
individual interests of buy-side users.

"At KBW, we leverage research expertise in the Financial Services sector and a
specialist sales model to remain both visible and valuable to our clients,
even during the most challenging market conditions. First Coverage allows us
to cut through the noise that investors encounter daily, so we are able to get
highly critical, actionable information directly to their desktops in
real-time." said Daryle DiLascia, executive vice president and director of
equity sales at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc. "I'm delighted to accept this
award on behalf of the entire KBW team that earned this recognition through
its diligence and determination during a period in which the financial sector
lost more than half its market value."

Jeffery Middleswart, president and director of research for Behind the
Numbers, an independent research provider that delivers quality of earnings
warnings and sell recommendations for institutional investors and hedge funds,
earned the top ranking in the individual salesperson category with an average
return of 10.26 percent on all ideas sent to his clients through the First
Coverage platform.

"I am very proud to be honored with this Top Performer Award and to work with
such an exceptional team at Behind the Numbers, whose support made this
achievement possible," said Middleswart. "The First Coverage platform provides
a powerful way for me to present impactful research and high conviction
recommendations to my clients, while demonstrating the value that I provide to
their investment process -- critical to my success in this turbulent bear
market."

2008 First Coverage Top Performer Award Winners

Top 10 U.S. Firms

1. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc.
2. Craig-Hallum Capital Group LLC
3. First Analysis Securities Corp.
4. Cleveland Research Company
5. Cowan and Company, LLC
6. Monness, Crespi, Hardt and Co., Inc.
7. Sterne, Agee & Leach, Inc.
8. Dahlman Rose & Company, LLC
9. Brean Murray Carret & Co.

10. Wedge Partners LLC

Top 10 Individual Performers

1. Jeff Middleswart, Behind the Numbers
2. Jeremy Hellman, Singular Research
3. Brad Bissell, William Blair & Company, LLC
4. Matthew Lane, Cowen and Company, LLC
5. Kevin Towl, Soleil Securities Group, Inc.
6. Mark Murphy, Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Inc.
7. Derek Clotfelter, Pacific Crest Securities
8. Josh Grim, Dahlman Rose & Company, LLC
9. Brad Wynveen, Citigroup

10. Steven Kroll, Jr., Monness, Crespi, Hardt and Co., Inc.

For more information and a complete winners' list, e-mail
Deborah.Jorge@FirstCoverage.com.

In January, First Coverage released Version 3.0 of its platform called "The
Community," which combines the features and functionality of an alpha capture
system, a media sentiment engine and a meeting management tool. The enhanced
platform represents the evolution of First Call and StreetEvents, and provides
actionable, high-quality aggregated information presented in the most usable
format yet -- with the goal of helping investment professionals be smarter,
safer and more efficient.

During the last year, data through the system grew by more than 400 percent.
In the fall 2008, the firm announced the expansion of its sales and marketing
team in addition to the signing of its 50th investment management client,
London-based GSA Capital.

About First Coverage Inc.

Established in 2006 by the founders of First Call and StreetEvents, First
Coverage provides a web-based technology, "The Community," which was developed
in collaboration with both the buy-side and sell-side to help money managers
more efficiently generate alpha by eliminating the "noise" that they encounter
on a daily basis, allowing them to focus on the people and information that
matter most to their holdings. The firm's clients comprise large money
managers, including Top Ten firms, hedge funds and pension plans, which direct
trillions of dollars in assets under management and have access to sentiment
analyses of "The Street" and the media as well as the highest-conviction,
actionable recommendations submitted to "The Community" by thousands of
sell-side participants, who consistently have outperformed the benchmarks.
For more information, visit www.FirstCoverage.com.

SOURCE First Coverage Inc.

Deborah Jorge of First Coverage, Office: +1-617-303-0067, Mobile:
+1-413-531-0959, Deborah.Jorge@FirstCoverage.com