We study the predictive ability of individual analyst target price changes for post-event abnormal stock returns within each recommendation category. Although prior studies generally demonstrate the investment value of target prices, we find that target price changes do not cause abnormal...

How to quantify the informational content of analyst reports? In this short methodological paper, we propose a measure of information contribution (IC), defined in the spirit of Shapley values. We use natural language processing to identify topics for over 90,000 analyst reports for S&P 500...

We document that the relative placement of analysts' target price within their subjective distribution of scenario-based valuations for the covered firm (i.e., tilt) is informative to investors. When analysts forecast price appreciation, tilt incrementally predicts ex post valuation errors and...

We use a dataset of sell-side analysts' scenario-based equity valuation estimates to examine whether analysts can assess the state-contingent risk surrounding a firm's fundamental value. We find that the spread in analysts' scenario-based valuations captures the riskiness of operations and...

A significant proportion of sell-side analysts’ recommendation revisions are directionally inconsistent with their earnings forecast revisions. For example, analysts revise earnings forecasts upward (downward) while simultaneously downgrading (upgrading) the recommendation. Prior research is...

We examine the relationship between analysts' stock recommendations and cash flow forecasts, and whether these recommendations and cash flow forecasts provide investors with useful information to identify mispriced securities. In doing so, the paper contributes to the ongoing debate regarding...

We examine whether financial analysts—sophisticated market participants—are subject to limited attention. We find that when analysts have another firm in their coverage portfolio announcing earnings on the same day as the sample firm (a “concurrent announcement”), they are less likely to...

Analysts cover portfolios of firms. Firms in these analyst portfolios are thus in principle subject to common (integrated) production of information. Nonetheless, this paper documents significant stock return and forecast revision predictability across firms with common analyst coverage. Prices...

Regulators are not always able to anticipate how mandates will translate to financial reporting practice, particularly when managers are able to exercise reporting discretion. When XBRL, the eXtensible Business Reporting Language, was mandated by the SEC, financial analysts were among the...