Patterns in Recommendation Changes, Investor Perceptions, and the Structure of Analysts’ Research Portfolios
56 Pages Posted: 10 Jan 2010
Date Written: January 9, 2010
Abstract
We study whether analysts’ recommendations and the market’s reactions to recommendation changes are influenced by the structure of analysts’ research portfolios. We find that analysts maintain more positive recommendations for stocks that belong to the “core industry” in their research portfolios, and are more likely to upgrade these core stocks. Consequently, diversified analysts, who cover stocks from industries other than their core industry, make less optimistic recommendations and are less likely to upgrade their recommendations. We also find that the market’s reactions, captured by announcement returns, are stronger for recommendation changes for non-core stocks and recommendation changes made by diversified analysts. Finally, all these patterns are significantly less pronounced after the passage of Regulation Fair Disclosure, suggesting that the bias in recommendations is the result of strategic considerations and not self-selection.
Keywords: analyst recommendations, research portfolio structure, market reaction
JEL Classification: D14, D82, D83, G24, M41
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?
Recommended Papers
-
Can Investors Profit from the Prophets? Consensus Analyst Recommendations and Stock Returns
By Brad M. Barber, Reuven Lehavy, ...
-
Security Analysts' Career Concerns and Herding of Earnings Forecasts
By Jeffrey D. Kubik, Amit Solomon, ...
-
By Patricia Dechow, Amy P. Hutton, ...
-
Analyzing the Analysts: When Do Recommendations Add Value?
By Narasimhan Jegadeesh, Joonghyuk Kim, ...
-
An Empirical Analysis of Analysts' Target Prices: Short Term Informativeness and Long Term Dynamics
By Alon Brav and Reuven Lehavy
-
How Do Analysts Use Their Earnings Forecasts in Generating Stock Recommendations?