The literature about sell-side analysts (analysts) is broad. Nonetheless, little research has been done regarding how these sophisticate users of financial information disclosed current and target price in form of graph. More precisely, we try to investigate if analysts are prone to distort the...

Using a model without conflicts of interest and with identical information available to equity analysts, we show that bias and herding in their stock recommendations occur due to incentives provided by relative performance evaluation and top awards. Furthermore, these incentives also lead to...

In this research I empirically study the effects of information acquisition by investors or traders on analysts' forecast bias. Based on the theoretical literature on sell-side analysts, I argue that forecast bias is correlated to investors' information gathering, in two opposite directions. On...

We document that analysts cater to short-term investors by issuing optimistic target prices. Catering dominates among analysts at brokers without an investment banking arm as they face lower reputational cost. The market does not see through the analyst catering activity and their forecasts lead...

This paper analyses four key markets within the European context. In this context, where the level of analyst coverage is lower than in the US setting, we aim to ascertain whether the origin of optimism in analyst forecasts in these markets is mainly strategic or whether it also contains an...

A great number of academic papers evaluate the potential for incentive-driven bias in sell-side analysts' earnings forecasts. Yet bias does not necessarily invalidate a forecast, nor does it impinge on its relative quality. We find that analysts' forecasts are optimistic relative to recently...

The expectations management literature has so far focused on firms meeting the analyst consensus forecast — the expectations of analysts as a group — at earnings announcements. In this study we argue that investors may use individual analyst forecasts as additional benchmarks in evaluating...

Survey evidence shows CFOs to believe that earnings management can enhance investor valuation of their firms. This evidence raises the question of correspondence between the beliefs of CFOs and investors. Surveying financial analysts to gain insight into how earnings management influences...

I provide evidence that investors systematically overweight analyst forecasts by demonstrating that prices do not fully reflect the predictable component of analyst forecast errors. This evidence conflicts with conclusions in prior research relying on traditional approaches to predicting analyst...