analysts forecasts

Babcock Price Fall, Segro Placing, TR Property

I said in a previous blog post “that I tend to avoid FTSE-100 companies as their share prices are driven by professional analysts’ comments, by geo-political concerns, by general economic trends and by commodity prices. You can buy a FTSE-100 company and soon find it’s going downhill because one influential analyst has decided its prospects are not as they previously thought”. Indeed that is exactly what happened after I made a recent purchase of Babcock International (BAB). Soon after, Shore Capital Markets ...

Analysts forecasts and Persimmon

Why are stock market analysts forecasts so varied? Or to put it another way, why are they so useless as a reliable predictor of the future? This question came to mind when looking at their recommendations after Persimmon issued their final results on the 25th February. Persimmon is of course a house building company. So it's operating in a well established sector where business trends are well researched and well known. Indeed house prices are dinner table conversations and the level of ...