What Makes Analysts Say “Buy”?

Wall Street analysts’ recommendations can move markets. But even though leaders of public companies spend significant amounts of time interacting with this constituency, there’s little information about how analysts arrive at their recommendations. What factors most influence their thinking? We set out to answer that question through a global study of analyst forecasts and stock […]

by

and

Nitin Nohria

by

and

Nitin Nohria

From the Magazine (November 2012)

Wall Street analysts’ recommendations can move markets. But even though leaders of public companies spend significant amounts of time interacting with this constituency, there’s little information about how analysts arrive at their recommendations. What factors most influence their thinking?

A version of this article appeared in the November 2012 issue of Harvard Business Review.

BG

Boris Groysberg, Paul Healy, and George Serafeim are on the faculty, and Nitin Nohria is the dean, of Harvard Business School.
GS

George Serafeim is the Charles M. Williams Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, where he leads the Climate and Sustainability Impact AI Lab. Follow him on Twitter @georgeserafeim
Nitin Nohria is the George F. Baker Jr. Professor at Harvard Business School and the former dean of HBS.

What Makes Analysts Say “Buy”?

Partner Center

Explore HBR

HBR Store

About HBR

Manage My Account

Follow HBR