Security analysts are often considered experts in the industries they follow. We analyze the impact of such expertise on market prices and returns in a setting where firms' earnings components may differ in their levels of persistence over time. In this context we show that a firm's...

In this paper we document that the earnings forecasts of security analysts who share a first name with the CEO of a covered firm (referred to as ‘matched' analysts) are more accurate, on average, than those of analysts who do not share a first name (referred to as ‘unmatched' analysts). This...

This paper analyzes the distribution of stock ratings at investment banks and brokerage firms and examines whether these distributions can be used to predict the profitability of analysts' recommendations. Consistent with prior work, we find that the percentage of buy recommendations increased...