IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/vnm/wpdman/45.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Financial Analysts' Forecast Accuracy: Do valuation methods matter?

Author

Listed:
  • Elisa Cavezzali

    (Università Ca' Foscari Venice)

  • Ugo Rigoni

    (Università Ca' Foscari Venice)

Abstract

This study investigates how different ways to evaluate a company influence the accuracy of the target price. We know that finance theory and professional practice propose alternative approaches to the evaluation of a company. The literature on the relationship between the valuation methods used and target price accuracy is still scant, and the results are inconclusive and contradictory. Coding the valuation methods of 1,650 reports, we find that the accuracy of target prices decreases when the target price is based just on a main method. Furthermore, we show that methods based on company fundamentals and those based on market multiples lead to similar levels of accuracy. Among different classes of methods, there are no superior methods. Therefore, we argue that in order to improve forecast accuracy, analysts need to assess company value by choosing and applying a set of different methods, combining them and getting the average value, but regardless of the specific technique chosen.

Suggested Citation

  • Elisa Cavezzali & Ugo Rigoni, 2013. "Financial Analysts' Forecast Accuracy: Do valuation methods matter?," Working Papers 9, Department of Management, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia.
    • Handle: RePEc:vnm:wpdman:45
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://virgo.unive.it/wpideas/storage/2013wp9.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2013
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. 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.
    2. 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.
    3. Asquith, Paul & Mikhail, Michael B. & Au, Andrea S., 2005. "Information content of equity analyst reports," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(2), pages 245-282, February.
    4. Efthimios Demirakos & Norman Strong & Martin Walker, 2010. "Does Valuation Model Choice Affect Target Price Accuracy?," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(1), pages 35-72.
    5. 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.
    6. Jing Liu & Doron Nissim & Jacob Thomas, 2002. "Equity Valuation Using Multiples," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(1), pages 135-172, March.
    7. Loh, Roger K. & Mian, G. Mujtaba, 2006. "Do accurate earnings forecasts facilitate superior investment recommendations?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(2), pages 455-483, May.
    8. Richard Barker, 1999. "The role of dividends in valuation models used by analysts and fund managers," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(2), pages 195-218.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Anesten, Sebastian & Möller, Niclas & Skogsvik, Kenth, 2015. "The Accuracy of Parsimonious Equity Valuation Models - Empirical tests of the Dividend Discount, Residual Income and Abnormal Earnings Growth model," SSE Working Paper Series in Business Administration 2015:3, Stockholm School of Economics.

    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. Imam, Shahed & Chan, Jacky & Shah, Syed Zulfiqar Ali, 2013. "Equity valuation models and target price accuracy in Europe: Evidence from equity reports," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 9-19.
    2. Budi Frensidy & Ryan Joshua Pelealu & Robiyanto Robiyanto, 2020. "Analysis of Equity Valuation Models and Target Price Accuracy: An Evidence From Analyst Reports in Indonesia," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(4), pages 21582440209, October.
    3. 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.
    4. Peter Clarkson & Alexander Nekrasov & Andreas Simon & Irene Tutticci, 2020. "Target price forecasts: The roles of the 52‐week high price and recent investor sentiment," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(9-10), pages 1365-1399, October.
    5. Chlomou, Grigoria & Demirakos, Efthimios, 2020. "How do financial analysts implement the Sum-of-the-Parts (SOTP) valuation framework?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    6. Cheng, Lee-Young & Su, Yi-Chen & Yan, Zhipeng & Zhao, Yan, 2019. "Corporate governance and target price accuracy," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 93-101.
    7. Yanfu Li, 2019. "Improving Analyst Target Price Performance Through Enhanced Valuation Techniques," Global Journal of Business Research, The Institute for Business and Finance Research, vol. 13(2), pages 1-12.
    8. Chen, An-Sing & Chang, Chong-Chuo & Cheng, Lee-Young & Tu, Hsing-Yu, 2016. "Do analysts cater to investor beliefs via target prices," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 232-252.
    9. Gülcan Erkilet & Gerrit Janke & Rainer Kasperzak, 2022. "How valuation approach choice affects financial analysts’ target price accuracy," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 92(5), pages 741-779, July.
    10. Peter R. Joos & Joseph D. Piotroski, 2017. "The best of all possible worlds: unraveling target price optimism using analysts’ scenario-based valuations," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 1492-1540, December.
    11. 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.
    12. Hiren Patel, 2021. "Target Price Achievement and Target Price Accuracy Models: An Analysis of Advisory Firms’ Recommendation for the Indian Banking Stocks," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 22(2), pages 459-473, April.
    13. 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.
    14. Beyer, Anne & Cohen, Daniel A. & Lys, Thomas Z. & Walther, Beverly R., 2010. "The financial reporting environment: Review of the recent literature," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2-3), pages 296-343, December.
    15. AltInkIlIç, Oya & Hansen, Robert S., 2009. "On the information role of stock recommendation revisions," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 17-36, October.
    16. Daniel Arand & Alexander G. Kerl, 2015. "Sell†Side Analyst Research and Reported Conflicts of Interest," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 21(1), pages 20-51, January.
    17. Hess, Dieter & Kreutzmann, Daniel & Pucker, Oliver, 2011. "Projected earnings accuracy and the profitability of stock recommendations," CFR Working Papers 10-17 [rev.], University of Cologne, Centre for Financial Research (CFR).
    18. Anesten, Sebastian & Möller, Niclas & Skogsvik, Kenth, 2015. "The Accuracy of Parsimonious Equity Valuation Models - Empirical tests of the Dividend Discount, Residual Income and Abnormal Earnings Growth model," SSE Working Paper Series in Business Administration 2015:3, Stockholm School of Economics.
    19. Markus Buxbaum & Wolfgang Schultze & Samuel L. Tiras, 2023. "Do analysts’ target prices stabilize the stock market?," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 61(3), pages 763-816, October.
    20. Marc Deloof & Wouter De Maeseneire & Koen Inghelbrecht, 2009. "How Do Investment Banks Value Initial Public Offerings (IPOs)?," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(1‐2), pages 130-160, January.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    forecast accuracy; sell-side analysts; equity valuation; valuation methods;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • M40 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - General
    • M41 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - Accounting

    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:vnm:wpdman:45. 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: Marco LiCalzi (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/mdvenit.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.