Why [Stock] analysts are always wrong! (2024)

Jean-Philippe Lionnet Why [Stock] analysts are always wrong! (1)

Jean-Philippe Lionnet

Financial Strategist : I work with clients in APAC helping them achieve their goals

Published Jun 16, 2021

We often hear analysts got it wrong. Their forecast is inaccurate. why do they earn so much money? I can get it for free on YouTube!

Truth to be told, I wanted to be an analyst, then I discovered options and derivatives and never really looked back. However, the world of analysts is extraordinarily rich, if you know how to use it.

First let us look at a couple of misconceptions about analysts. For clarity, I will focus on Stock analysts in Investment banking who generate research reports for their institutional clientele.

Why [Stock] analysts are always wrong! (2)

1-Most forecasts are on a 12-month basis. They do not aim to be right or wrong during the next week or month.

2-They make long term projections to derive a target price, with a linear -sometimes exponential – thinking.

3-They focus on fundamentals of a company and less on technical, volumes and other market parameters.

4-How good an analyst is defined directly by its clients – Food for thought for the rest of the financial industry. Every year, the clients vote for their best analyst in each economic sector.

5-They analyze dozens to hundreds of stocks within a sector.

Now you know what an analyst does, let’s see what the implications are.

1-They can be right too early …or too late. As they cannot “price” exogenous factors, sudden rumors or piece of news.

2-Like a rocket launch, a tiny variation can make a big change on a projection. 0.01% growth rate will have a tremendous impact on a 10-year projection.

3-They are fundamentally bullish on the stock they analyse and the noise of the market movement impact less their view. Thus, it is important for the client to add a technical overlay, tools, and strategy to make the most of the analyst reports.

4-The clients vote for them, and it is an extremely competitive market. Analysts are inclined to please their client and deviate only slightly from the consensus. Being wrong with the crowd is less penalizing for their career than being wrong by themselves.

5-Despite having an army of minions, analysts cannot review their reports as regularly as they wish and focus on a handful of stocks. Thus, it is important to note the date of the analyst reports/target price.

Why [Stock] analysts are always wrong! (3)

Analyst provide a tool to help clients make investment decisions. However, one cannot rely solely on the analysts’ reports. An investor has to look at its investment horizon, risk appetite and leverage factor.

If a wise man points to the moon, look at the moon, not the finger. In terms of economic and financial forecast, the truth lies in between. The direction of the finger is more important than the actual objective… or the finger.

For Further reading

A random walk down wall street. Burton G. Malkiel

https://www.amazon.com/Random-Walk-Down-Wall-Street/dp/0393330338

City Boy. Geraint Anderson

https://www.amazon.com/Cityboy-Geraint-Anderson/dp/0755346181

Why [Stock] analysts are always wrong! (2024)

FAQs

Why are stock analysts always wrong? ›

Analysts often fail to anticipate changes in earnings and the factors that drive them, like evolving consumer habits, new-product cycles, or the rise or fall of a competitor. They often appear blind to developments long after they occur and after they are reflected in share prices.

Are stock analysts ever right? ›

Some Wall Street analyst ratings are highly accurate, meaning their ratings lead to successful returns for investors. However, in the stock market, nothing is truly guaranteed. This means investors want to interpret analyst ratings with a healthy dose of skepticism.

Who is the most reliable stock analyst? ›

Mark Lipacis ranks No. 1 out of the 8,371 analysts tracked on TipRanks. The five-star analyst has an overall success rate of 73%.

Why do so many people fail in the stock market? ›

When investors invest in stocks rather than businesses: Investing in stocks based on the price trends and not bothering about the business is a big reason for failure at the stock market. Sometimes decisions based on the price of stocks might be deceptive and can cause loss to the investor.

Are stock prices easily manipulated? ›

To protect yourself from market manipulation there are several steps you can take, some negative and some positive. Beware of low-volume stocks, as well as microcap stocks and penny stocks, They are far easier to manipulate than large-cap stocks or securities with high-volume trading.

What is the common mistake in stock market? ›

The biggest investing mistake you can make is not investing at all since you lose out on the power of compounding interest. It's also important to keep your investments diversified and avoid investing in stocks you don't understand.

Who is the guy that predicts stocks? ›

Michael Burry, the legendary investor who has become the oracle of Wall Street, seems to share this pessimistic diagnosis. He has just given his first predictions for 2023, and these are grim.

Is it hard to make a living off stocks? ›

While some can make a living trading stocks, the majority of day traders lose money over the long term. Education is critical to being a successful trader. You should also develop a trading strategy and stick to it.

Can any one predict the stock market? ›

Since multiple factors need to be considered in predicting stock prices, it can be challenging to accurately predict stock prices. This is where machine learning comes into play. Machine learning uses various mathematical techniques and data analysis tools to accurately predict stock prices.

Who is the best stock analyst in USA? ›

Top 10 U.S. Analysts for 2022
  • #1 Nitin Kumar, CFA (Mizuho Securities)
  • #2 Brian Abrahams (RBC Capital)
  • #3 Marc Bianchi (Cowen & Co)
  • #4 Silvio Micheloto (Mizuho Securities)
  • #5 Neal Dingmann (Truist Financial)
  • #6 Scott Hanold (RBC Capital)
  • #7 Doug Leggate (Bank of America Securities)
  • #8 Scott Gruber (Citigroup)
Jan 19, 2023

Who is the best stock guy? ›

Warren Buffett is often cited as the most successful investor of all time through his holding company, Berkshire Hathaway.

Who is the best stock picker in the world? ›

The Motley Fool has been a long-standing leader in the world of stock picking and investment ideas since it was established in 2002 and their flagship service, Stock Advisor, has outperformed the market by nearly 3x since its inception.

Why 95% people fail in stock market? ›

Lack Of Discipline

First, investors need a guidebook/mentor/course to help or guide them in daily trading. Secondly, never forgetting stop loss. Don't enter a trade without placing a stop loss. It will help you to keep losses at a manageable level.

Why most traders never succeed? ›

Lack of knowledge. This single biggest reason why most traders fail to make money when trading the stock market is due to a lack of knowledge. We can also put poor education into this arena because while many seek to educate themselves, they look in all the wrong places and, therefore, end up gaining a poor education.

Do 90% of people lose money in the stock market? ›

However, it can be a frustrating and costly experience for many new traders, leaving them with little to show for their efforts. Based on several brokers' studies, as many as 90% of traders are estimated to lose money in the markets.

Why is it so hard to predict the stock market? ›

Predicting the market is challenging because the future is inherently unpredictable. Short-term traders are typically better served by waiting for confirmation that a reversal is at hand, rather than trying to predict a reversal will happen in the future.

Is the stock market really unpredictable? ›

Stocks are also volatile and unpredictable because of the continuous flow of news, announcements, international data points, etc.

Why do so many people fail in Investing? ›

Human emotion pulls investors in different directions and fear and greed are the two biggest hindrances to investment success because they cause investors to lose sight of their long term plans. The markets are 'noisy' with so much information being distributed through the media that people don't know who to trust.

Why stocks never go up? ›

If more people want to buy a stock (demand) than sell it (supply), then the price moves up. Conversely, if more people wanted to sell a stock than buy it, there would be greater supply than demand, and the price would fall.

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