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Do Stars Shine? Comparing the Performance Persistence of Star Sell-Side Analysts Listed by Institutional Investor, the Wall Street Journal, and StarMine

Author

Listed:
  • Yury O. Kucheev

    (Technical University of Madrid (UPM)/Universidad Politécnica de Madrid
    KTH Royal Institute of Technology
    Swedish House of Finance, Stockholm School of Economics)

  • Felipe Ruiz

    (Technical University of Madrid (UPM)/Universidad Politécnica de Madrid)

  • Tomas Sorensson

    (KTH Royal Institute of Technology
    Swedish House of Finance, Stockholm School of Economics)

Abstract

We investigate the profitability persistence of the investment recommendations from analysts listed in four different star rankings, Institutional Investor magazine, StarMine’s “Top Earnings Estimators” and “Top Stock Pickers”, and The Wall Street Journal, and show the predictive power of each evaluation methodology. We found that only Buy and Strong Buy recommendations from the entire group of Star analysts outperform those of the Non-Stars in the year after election, while Sell and Strong Sell recommendations performed as those of the Non-Stars. We document that the highest average monthly abnormal return of holding a long-short portfolio, 0.97 %, is obtained by following the recommendations of the group of star sell-side analysts rated by StarMine’s “Top Earnings Estimators” during the period from 2003 to 2014. Since earnings are one of the main drivers of stock prices, the results obtained are in line with the notion that focusing on superior earnings forecasts is one of the top requirements for successful stock picks.

Suggested Citation

  • Yury O. Kucheev & Felipe Ruiz & Tomas Sorensson, 2017. "Do Stars Shine? Comparing the Performance Persistence of Star Sell-Side Analysts Listed by Institutional Investor, the Wall Street Journal, and StarMine," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 52(3), pages 277-305, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jfsres:v:52:y:2017:i:3:d:10.1007_s10693-016-0258-x
    DOI: 10.1007/s10693-016-0258-x
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    Cited by:

    1. 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.
    2. Chen Su & Hanxiong Zhang & Kenbata Bangassa & Nathan Lael Joseph, 2019. "On the investment value of sell-side analyst recommendation revisions in the UK," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 53(1), pages 257-293, July.
    3. Darko B. Vukovic & Orifjon O. U. Kurbonov & Moinak Maiti & Mustafa Özer & Milan Radovanovic, 2024. "Outperforming the market: a comparison of Star and NonStar analysts’ investment strategies and recommendations," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-15, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Star analysts; Analyst recommendations; StarMine; Institutional Investor; The Wall Street Journal;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G23 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Non-bank Financial Institutions; Financial Instruments; Institutional Investors
    • G24 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Investment Banking; Venture Capital; Brokerage

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