Every Kind of Analyst on the Stock Market, Explained

Is it still research and analysis if I do it later?

If you’ve been on the stock market for the last few months, you’ve probably noticed the words across the edge of the screen:

ABC stock upgraded/downgraded by [your favorite analyst’s name goes here]. Raises/lowers price target to [new price].

It’s generally accepted that people will read these results and take them at face value. We rarely get a glimpse into the actual analysis and we are lucky if we get a description of what they did to arrive at their results.

In reality, most analysis and analysts follow a clear pattern, except it’s the pattern you’d least expect.

Is it bad if I’m following trends? Nobody is looking, right?

Analyst coverage of a stock, May 2019 to present.

This is the chronicle of a fool, foretold. Analysts will regularly follow trends instead of creating the path for the future. It takes no shame for an analyst to change their tune as the stock price changes. In fact, they can rest assured…