quote of the day – “You gotta a love analysts. Ever since I can remember, there is one thing I have noticed when reading analyst reports: They are way behind the curve, compared to the market!”

I have yet to read an analyst report (and I have read several thousand) that makes some kind of prediction based on data and assumptions as to where a stock might be several months in the future. For the most part, analyst reports simply reaffirm today’s stock price and nothing else. Yes I’m talking about you Mr Lonmin anal-yst at Soc Gen!

As such, don’t read analyst reports unless the analyst has the guts to stick his or her neck out and help investors profit by specifically telling investors to buy XYZ stock today, with a specific target price in the future. What is the point if a report simply tells us what the market has already discounted?