IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/por/cetedp/1604.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Are rankings of financial analysts useful to investors?

Author

Listed:
  • Artur Aiguzhinov

    (Faculty of Economics & cef.up, University of Porto; Institute for Systems and Computer Engineering, Technology and Science)

  • Ana Paula Serra

    (Faculty of Economics & cef.up, University of Porto)

  • Carlos Soares

    (Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto; Institute for Systems and Computer Engineering, Technology and Science)

Abstract

Several institutions issue rankings of financial analysts based on the accuracy of their price and EPS forecasts. Given that these rankings are expost they may not be useful to investors. In this paper we show that trading strategies based on perfect foresight and on past rankings outperform a passive strategy. In addition, we report that investors are better off following analysts that issue accurate price targets rather than following those with accurate EPS forecasts.

Suggested Citation

  • Artur Aiguzhinov & Ana Paula Serra & Carlos Soares, 2016. "Are rankings of financial analysts useful to investors?," CEF.UP Working Papers 1604, Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Economia do Porto.
    • Handle: RePEc:por:cetedp:1604
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://cefup.fep.up.pt/uploads/WorkingPapers/wp1604.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Karl B. Diether & Christopher J. Malloy & Anna Scherbina, 2002. "Differences of Opinion and the Cross Section of Stock Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(5), pages 2113-2141, October.
    2. Womack, Kent L, 1996. "Do Brokerage Analysts' Recommendations Have Investment Value?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 51(1), pages 137-167, March.
    3. Li, Xi, 2005. "The persistence of relative performance in stock recommendations of sell-side financial analysts," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(1-3), pages 129-152, December.
    4. Da, Zhi & Schaumburg, Ernst, 2011. "Relative valuation and analyst target price forecasts," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 161-192, February.
    5. Emery, Douglas R. & Li, Xi, 2009. "Are the Wall Street Analyst Rankings Popularity Contests?," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 44(2), pages 411-437, April.
    6. Stefano Bonini & Laura Zanetti & Roberto Bianchini & Antonio Salvi, 2010. "Target Price Accuracy in Equity Research," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(9‐10), pages 1177-1217, November.
    7. Clement, Michael B., 1999. "Analyst forecast accuracy: Do ability, resources, and portfolio complexity matter?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 285-303, July.
    8. Fama, Eugene F, 1970. "Efficient Capital Markets: A Review of Theory and Empirical Work," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 25(2), pages 383-417, May.
    9. Andreas Simon & Asher Curtis, 2011. "The Use of Earnings Forecasts in Stock Recommendations: Are Accurate Analysts More Consistent?," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(1-2), pages 119-144, January.
    10. Gilles Hilary & Charles Hsu, 2013. "Analyst Forecast Consistency," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 68(1), pages 271-297, February.
    11. Yonca Ertimur & Jayanthi Sunder & Shyam V. Sunder, 2007. "Measure for Measure: The Relation between Forecast Accuracy and Recommendation Profitability of Analysts," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(3), pages 567-606, June.
    12. Alon Brav & Reuven Lehavy, 2003. "An Empirical Analysis of Analysts' Target Prices: Short-term Informativeness and Long-term Dynamics," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 58(5), pages 1933-1968, October.
    13. Mikhail, Michael B. & Walther, Beverly R. & Willis, Richard H., 2004. "Do security analysts exhibit persistent differences in stock picking ability?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(1), pages 67-91, October.
    14. Brad Barber & Reuven Lehavy & Maureen McNichols & Brett Trueman, 2001. "Can Investors Profit from the Prophets? Security Analyst Recommendations and Stock Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(2), pages 531-563, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hall, Jason L. & Tacon, Paul B., 2010. "Forecast accuracy and stock recommendations," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 6(1), pages 18-33.
    2. Ramnath, Sundaresh & Rock, Steve & Shane, Philip, 2008. "The financial analyst forecasting literature: A taxonomy with suggestions for further research," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 34-75.
    3. Andrey Kudryavtsev, 2018. "Holiday effect on stock price reactions to analyst recommendation revisions," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 19(7), pages 507-521, December.
    4. Jan Klobucnik & Daniel Kreutzmann & Soenke Sievers & Stefan Kanne, 2012. "To buy or not to buy? The value of contradictory analyst signals," Cologne Graduate School Working Paper Series 03-03, Cologne Graduate School in Management, Economics and Social Sciences.
    5. Lily Fang & Ayako Yasuda, 2014. "Are Stars’ Opinions Worth More? The Relation Between Analyst Reputation and Recommendation Values," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 46(3), pages 235-269, December.
    6. Hobbs, Jeffrey & Kovacs, Tunde & Sharma, Vivek, 2012. "The investment value of the frequency of analyst recommendation changes for the ordinary investor," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 94-108.
    7. Stefan Kanne & Jan Klobucnik & Daniel Kreutzmann & Soenke Sievers, 2012. "To buy or not to buy? The value of contradictory analyst signals," Financial Markets and Portfolio Management, Springer;Swiss Society for Financial Market Research, vol. 26(4), pages 405-428, December.
    8. Andrey Kudryavtsev, 2021. "The Correlation Between Stock Returns Before And After Analyst Recommendation Revisions," Economic Annals, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Belgrade, vol. 66(228), pages 69-100, January –.
    9. Tuan Ho & Ruby Brownen‐Trinh & Fangming Xu, 2021. "The information content of target price forecasts: Evidence from mergers and acquisitions," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(5-6), pages 1134-1171, May.
    10. Chen Su & Hanxiong Zhang & Nathan Lael Joseph, 2022. "The performance of UK stock recommendation revisions: Does brokerage house reputation matter?," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(3), pages 3051-3070, July.
    11. Gu, Chen & Guo, Xu & Zhang, Chengping, 2022. "Analyst target price revisions and institutional herding," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    12. Alan Crane & Kevin Crotty, 2020. "How Skilled Are Security Analysts?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 75(3), pages 1629-1675, June.
    13. Engelberg, Joseph & McLean, R. David & Pontiff, Jeffrey, 2020. "Analysts and anomalies," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(1).
    14. Peter F. Pope & Tong Wang, 2023. "Analyst ability and research effort: non-EPS forecast provision as a research quality signal," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 28(3), pages 1263-1315, September.
    15. Boris Groysberg & Paul Healy & George Serafeim & Devin Shanthikumar, 2013. "The Stock Selection and Performance of Buy-Side Analysts," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 59(5), pages 1062-1075, May.
    16. Jeffrey Hobbs & Vivek Singh, 2015. "A comparison of buy‐side and sell‐side analysts," Review of Financial Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(1), pages 42-51, January.
    17. Hobbs, Jeffrey & Singh, Vivek, 2015. "A comparison of buy-side and sell-side analysts," Review of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 42-51.
    18. Corredor, Pilar & Ferrer, Elena & Santamaria, Rafael, 2019. "The role of sentiment and stock characteristics in the translation of analysts’ forecasts into recommendations," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 252-272.
    19. Andrey Kudryavtsev, 2020. "Stock Return Dynamics after Analyst Recommendation Revisions," Journal of Risk & Control, Risk Market Journals, vol. 7(1), pages 1-16.
    20. Athanasakou, Vasiliki E. & Simpson, Ana, 2016. "Investor attention to salient features of analyst forecasts," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 65745, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Keywords: financial analysts; rankings; target price forecasts; earnings forecasts; portfolio management;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading
    • G24 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Investment Banking; Venture Capital; Brokerage
    • G29 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Other

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:por:cetedp:1604. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Ana Bonanca (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/fepuppt.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.