Today's Analyst Stock Ratings | Upgrades, Downgrades

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Aug 7, 2026	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	20.62%	Robyn KarnauskasTruist Securities 54%	1.37K 1.38K	Previous Buy Current Buy	Get Alert
Aug 6, 2026	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	16.58%	Mohit BansalWells Fargo 73%	1.28K 1.33K	Previous Overweight Current Overweight	Get Alert
Aug 6, 2026	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	23.6%	Carter GouldCantor Fitzgerald 66%	1.35K 1.41K	Previous Overweight Current Overweight	Get Alert
Jul 15, 2026	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	40.25%	Geoff MeachamCitigroup 78%	1.5K 1.6K	Previous Buy Current Buy	Get Alert
Jul 14, 2026	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	21.41%	Courtney BreenBernstein 56%	1.3K 1.39K	Previous Outperform Current Outperform	Get Alert
Jul 13, 2026	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	24.91%	Michael YeeUBS 71%	1.25K 1.43K	Previous Buy Current Buy	Get Alert
Jul 13, 2026	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	11.59%	Seamus FernandezGuggenheim 78%	1.24K 1.27K	Previous Buy Current Buy	Get Alert
Jul 10, 2026	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	16.94%	Jason GerberryB of A Securities 68%	1.25K 1.33K	Previous Buy Current Buy	Get Alert
Jul 8, 2026	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	20.09%	Robyn KarnauskasTruist Securities 54%	1.28K 1.37K	Previous Buy Current Buy	Get Alert
Jul 8, 2026	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	18.08%	Terence FlynnMorgan Stanley 75%	1.34K 1.35K	Previous Overweight Current Overweight	Get Alert
Jul 8, 2026	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	31.49%	Trung HuynhRBC Capital 72%	1.25K 1.5K	Previous Outperform Current Outperform	Get Alert
Jul 7, 2026	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	22.72%	Chris SchottJP Morgan 67%	1.3K 1.4K	Previous Overweight Current Overweight	Get Alert
Jul 6, 2026	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	18.34%	Carter GouldCantor Fitzgerald 66%	1.23K 1.35K	Previous Overweight Current Overweight	Get Alert
Jun 25, 2026	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	7.99%	David RisingerLeerink Partners 73%	1.12K 1.23K	Previous Outperform Current Outperform	Get Alert
Jun 9, 2026	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	18.34%	Akash TewariJefferies 54%	1.33K 1.35K	Previous Buy Current Buy	Get Alert
May 26, 2026	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	9.66%	Jason GerberryB of A Securities 68%	1.13K 1.25K	Previous Buy Current Buy	Get Alert
May 5, 2026	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	22.72%	Emily FieldBarclays 61%	1.35K 1.4K	Previous Overweight Current Overweight	Get Alert
May 5, 2026	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	3.7%	Seamus FernandezGuggenheim 78%	1.18K 1.18K	Previous Buy Current Buy	Get Alert
May 4, 2026	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	16.15%	Alexandria HammondWolfe Research 66%	1.33K 1.33K	Previous Outperform Current Outperform	Get Alert
May 1, 2026	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	7.82%	Carter GouldCantor Fitzgerald 66%	1.21K 1.23K	Previous Overweight Current Overweight	Get Alert
Apr 22, 2026	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	3.7%	Seamus FernandezGuggenheim 78%	1.16K 1.18K	Previous Buy Current Buy	Get Alert
Apr 10, 2026	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	16.32%	Terence FlynnMorgan Stanley 75%	1.31K 1.33K	Previous Overweight Current Overweight	Get Alert
Apr 2, 2026	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	13.43%	Jason GerberryB of A Securities 68%	1.29K 1.29K	Previous Buy Current Buy	Get Alert
Mar 30, 2026	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	1.95%	Seamus FernandezGuggenheim 78%	1.16K 1.17K	Previous Buy Current Buy	Get Alert
Mar 17, 2026	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	-25.49%	Rajesh KumarHSBC 58%	850 1.07K	Previous Hold Current Reduce	Get Alert
Feb 25, 2026	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	9.57%	Trung HuynhRBC Capital 72%	1.25K	Previous Initiates Current Outperform	Get Alert
Feb 20, 2026	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	18.34%	Emily FieldBarclays 61%	1.35K	Previous Initiates Current Overweight	Get Alert
Feb 10, 2026	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	5.19%	Ilya ZubkovFreedom Broker 56%	1.05K 1.2K	Previous Hold Current Buy	Get Alert
Feb 9, 2026	LLYEli Lilly and Co	$1.14K	12.64%	James ShinDeutsche Bank 64%	1.2K 1.29K	Previous Buy Current Buy	Get Alert
Feb 5, 2026	LLYEli Lilly and Co	$1.14K	13.96%	Chris SchottJP Morgan 67%	1.15K 1.3K	Previous Overweight Current Overweight	Get Alert
Feb 5, 2026	LLYEli Lilly and Co	$1.14K	5.63%	Carter GouldCantor Fitzgerald 66%	985 1.21K	Previous Overweight Current Overweight	Get Alert
Feb 5, 2026	LLYEli Lilly and Co	$1.14K	12.2%	Mohit BansalWells Fargo 73%	1.2K 1.28K	Previous Overweight Current Overweight	Get Alert
Feb 5, 2026	LLYEli Lilly and Co	$1.14K	15.09%	Terence FlynnMorgan Stanley 75%	1.29K 1.31K	Previous Overweight Current Overweight	Get Alert
Feb 2, 2026	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	-7.96%	Ilya ZubkovFreedom Broker 56%	950 1.05K	Previous Hold Current Hold	Get Alert
Jan 20, 2026	LLYEli Lilly and Co	$1.14K	1.77%	Seamus FernandezGuggenheim 78%	1.16K 1.16K	Previous Buy Current Buy	Get Alert
Jan 7, 2026	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	9.57%	Michael YeeUBS 71%	1.08K 1.25K	Previous Buy Current Buy	Get Alert
Dec 15, 2025	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	11.15%	Tim AndersonB of A Securities 60%	1.27K 1.29K	Previous Buy Current Buy	Get Alert
Dec 10, 2025	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	5.19%	Mohit BansalWells Fargo 73%	1.1K 1.2K	Previous Overweight Current Overweight	Get Alert
Dec 4, 2025	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	5.19%	Evan SeigermanBMO Capital 72%	1.1K 1.2K	Previous Outperform Current Outperform	Get Alert
Dec 3, 2025	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	1.95%	Seamus FernandezGuggenheim 78%	1.04K 1.16K	Previous Buy Current Buy	Get Alert
Nov 24, 2025	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	13.08%	Terence FlynnMorgan Stanley 75%	1.17K 1.29K	Previous Overweight Current Overweight	Get Alert
Nov 24, 2025	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	13.96%	Courtney BreenBernstein 56%	1.1K 1.3K	Previous Outperform Current Outperform	Get Alert
Nov 19, 2025	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	3.61%	Robyn KarnauskasTruist Securities 54%	1.04K 1.18K	Previous Buy Current Buy	Get Alert
Nov 18, 2025	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	0.81%	Chris SchottJP Morgan 67%	1.05K 1.15K	Previous Overweight Current Overweight	Get Alert
Nov 13, 2025	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	2.65%	Terence FlynnMorgan Stanley 75%	1.09K 1.17K	Previous Overweight Current Overweight	Get Alert
Nov 12, 2025	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	31.49%	Peter VerdultCitigroup 31%	1.25K 1.5K	Previous Buy Current Buy	Get Alert
Nov 10, 2025	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	-16.73%	Ilya ZubkovFreedom Broker 56%	750 950	Previous Buy Current Hold	Get Alert
Nov 10, 2025	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	-3.23%	David RisingerLeerink Partners 73%	886 1.1K	Previous Market Perform Current Outperform	Get Alert
Nov 7, 2025	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	-5.33%	Trung HuynhUBS 72%	895 1.08K	Previous Buy Current Buy	Get Alert
Nov 6, 2025	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	-3.58%	Evan SeigermanBMO Capital 72%	930 1.1K	Previous Outperform Current Outperform	Get Alert
Oct 31, 2025	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	-13.66%	Carter GouldCantor Fitzgerald 66%	925 985	Previous Overweight Current Overweight	Get Alert
Oct 16, 2025	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	-16.9%	Seamus FernandezGuggenheim 78%	948 948	Previous Buy Current Buy	Get Alert
Oct 8, 2025	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	-16.9%	Seamus FernandezGuggenheim 78%	875 948	Previous Buy Current Buy	Get Alert
Oct 3, 2025	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	-10.33%	Terence FlynnMorgan Stanley 75%	1.02K 1.03K	Previous Overweight Current Overweight	Get Alert
Sep 17, 2025	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	-27.24%	Kerry HolfordBerenberg 47%	830 970	Previous Buy Current Hold	Get Alert
Sep 16, 2025	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	-7.96%	Chris SchottJP Morgan 67%	1.05K 1.1K	Previous Overweight Current Overweight	Get Alert
Aug 27, 2025	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	-38.64%	Rajesh KumarHSBC 58%	675 700	Previous Reduce Current Hold	Get Alert
Aug 14, 2025	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	-34.26%	Ilya ZubkovFreedom Broker 56%	750 810	Previous Hold Current Buy	Get Alert
Aug 13, 2025	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	-27.68%	Carter GouldCantor Fitzgerald 66%	825 975	Previous Overweight Current Overweight	Get Alert
Aug 13, 2025	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	-23.3%	Seamus FernandezGuggenheim 78%	875 942	Previous Buy Current Buy	Get Alert
Aug 11, 2025	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	-21.11%	James ShinDeutsche Bank 64%	900 1.01K	Previous Buy Current Buy	Get Alert
Aug 8, 2025	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	-3.58%	Chris SchottJP Morgan 67%	1.1K 1.1K	Previous Overweight Current Overweight	Get Alert
Aug 8, 2025	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	-21.55%	Trung HuynhUBS 72%	895 1.05K	Previous Buy Current Buy	Get Alert
Jul 11, 2025	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	-17.43%	Seamus FernandezGuggenheim 78%	936 942	Previous Buy Current Buy	Get Alert
Jul 10, 2025	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	-0.51%	Terence FlynnMorgan Stanley 75%	1.13K 1.14K	Previous Overweight Current Overweight	Get Alert
Jun 20, 2025	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	-17.95%	Seamus FernandezGuggenheim 78%	936 936	Previous Buy Current Buy	Get Alert
May 23, 2025	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	-17.95%	Seamus FernandezGuggenheim 78%	928 936	Previous Buy Current Buy	Get Alert
May 2, 2025	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	-7.96%	Trung HuynhUBS 72%	1.05K 1.1K	Previous Buy Current Buy	Get Alert
Apr 28, 2025	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	-38.64%	Rajesh KumarHSBC 58%	700 1.15K	Previous Buy Current Reduce	Get Alert
Apr 22, 2025	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	-14.53%	Carter GouldCantor Fitzgerald 66%	975	Previous Initiates Current Overweight	Get Alert
Apr 14, 2025	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	-18.65%	Seamus FernandezGuggenheim 78%	928 973	Previous Buy Current Buy	Get Alert
Apr 9, 2025	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	-1.47%	Terence FlynnMorgan Stanley 75%	1.12K 1.15K	Previous Overweight Current Overweight	Get Alert
Apr 8, 2025	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	-22.16%	Asad Haider Goldman Sachs 67%	888 892	Previous Neutral Current Buy	Get Alert
Mar 5, 2025	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	-3.58%	Mohit BansalWells Fargo 73%	970 1.1K	Previous Overweight Current Overweight	Get Alert
Feb 3, 2025	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	-9.01%	Srikripa DevarakondaTruist Securities 70%	1.03K 1.04K	Previous Buy Current Buy	Get Alert
Jan 28, 2025	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	-14.97%	Mohit BansalWells Fargo 73%	970 1K	Previous Overweight Current Overweight	Get Alert
Jan 28, 2025	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	4.31%	Peter VerdultCitigroup 31%	1.19K 1.25K	Previous Buy Current Buy	Get Alert
Dec 10, 2024	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	-12.61%	Tim AndersonB of A Securities 60%	997	Previous Current Buy	Get Alert
Nov 15, 2024	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	-12.34%	Alexandria HammondWolfe Research 66%	1K	Previous Initiates Current Outperform	Get Alert
Nov 4, 2024	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	-11.03%	James ShinDeutsche Bank 64%	1.01K 1.02K	Previous Buy Current Buy	Get Alert
Oct 31, 2024	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	-9.8%	Robyn KarnauskasTruist Securities 54%	1.03K 1.03K	Previous Buy Current Buy	Get Alert
Oct 31, 2024	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	-14.53%	Carter GouldBarclays 66%	975 1.02K	Previous Overweight Current Overweight	Get Alert
Oct 31, 2024	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	-3.58%	Geoff MeachamB of A Securities 78%	1.1K 1.15K	Previous Buy Current Buy	Get Alert
Oct 25, 2024	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	9.57%	Peter VerdultCitigroup 31%	1.06K 1.25K	Previous Buy Current Buy	Get Alert
Oct 17, 2024	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	-3.58%	—	1.1K	Previous Initiates Current Outperform	Get Alert
Oct 10, 2024	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	-9.45%	Srikripa DevarakondaTruist Securities 70%	1K 1.03K	Previous Buy Current Buy	Get Alert
Oct 3, 2024	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	-10.15%	James ShinDeutsche Bank 64%	1.02K 1.02K	Previous Buy Current Buy	Get Alert
Sep 16, 2024	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	-22.42%	Louise ChenCantor Fitzgerald 60%	885 885	Previous Overweight Current Overweight	Get Alert
Sep 13, 2024	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	-3.58%	Chris SchottJP Morgan 67%	1.05K 1.1K	Previous Overweight Current Overweight	Get Alert
Sep 13, 2024	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	-7.08%	Peter VerdultCitigroup 31%	1.06K	Previous Buy Current Buy	Get Alert
Sep 9, 2024	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	-22.42%	Louise ChenCantor Fitzgerald 60%	885 885	Previous Overweight Current Overweight	Get Alert
Aug 27, 2024	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	-3.05%	Terence FlynnMorgan Stanley 75%	1.11K 1.11K	Previous Overweight Current Overweight	Get Alert
Aug 19, 2024	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	-22.42%	Louise ChenCantor Fitzgerald 60%	885 885	Previous Overweight Current Overweight	Get Alert
Aug 16, 2024	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	-9.71%	Seamus FernandezGuggenheim 78%	884 1.03K	Previous Buy Current Buy	Get Alert
Aug 14, 2024	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	-7.96%	Kerry HolfordBerenberg 47%	1K 1.05K	Previous Buy Current Buy	Get Alert
Aug 12, 2024	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	-10.15%	James ShinDeutsche Bank 64%	725 1.02K	Previous Hold Current Buy	Get Alert
Aug 9, 2024	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	-12.34%	Mohit BansalWells Fargo 73%	875 1K	Previous Overweight Current Overweight	Get Alert
Aug 9, 2024	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	-3.49%	Evan SeigermanBMO Capital 72%	1K 1.1K	Previous Outperform Current Outperform	Get Alert
Aug 9, 2024	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	-1.38%	Geoff MeachamB of A Securities 78%	1K 1.13K	Previous Buy Current Buy	Get Alert
Aug 5, 2024	LLYEli Lilly	$1.14K	-22.51%	Seamus FernandezGuggenheim 78%	855 884	Previous Buy Current Buy	Get Alert

Recent Analyst Stock Rating News

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Canaccord Genuity Maintains Buy on Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Lowers Price Target to $85

Canaccord Genuity analyst Gary Nachman maintains Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) with a Buy and lowers the price target from $95 to $85.

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HC Wainwright & Co. Maintains Buy on Climb Bio, Raises Price Target to $30

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HC Wainwright & Co. Maintains Buy on Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Lowers Price Target to $100

HC Wainwright & Co. analyst Mitchell S. Kapoor maintains Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) with a Buy and lowers the price target from $115 to $100.

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Needham Reiterates Hold on Appleto Hold

Needham analyst Laura Martin reiterates Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) from Hold to Hold.

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Cantor Fitzgerald Maintains Overweight on Robinhood Markets, Raises Price Target to $150

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Cantor Fitzgerald Reiterates Neutral on Amgen, Maintains $400 Price Target

Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Carter Gould reiterates Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) with a Neutral and maintains $400 price target.

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Cantor Fitzgerald Initiates Coverage On Londian Wason New Energy with Overweight Rating, Announces Price Target of $31

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HC Wainwright & Co. Reiterates Buy on Scholar Rock Holding, Maintains $65 Price Target

HC Wainwright & Co. analyst Andres Y. Maldonado reiterates Scholar Rock Holding (NASDAQ:SRRK) with a Buy and maintains $65 price target.

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BTIG Maintains Buy on ServiceNow, Raises Price Target to $170

BTIG analyst Allan Verkhovski maintains ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) with a Buy and raises the price target from $150 to $170.

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What Are Analyst Stock Ratings?

Analyst ratings measure the expected performance of a stock during a given time period. Analysts and brokerage firms often use ratings when they issue stock recommendations to stock traders.

Analysts arrive at stock ratings after they research companies’ public financial statements, communicate with executives and customers and interact with companies in other ways.

Most analysts issue ratings 4 times a year, usually at 3-month intervals.

How to Use Analyst Ratings

As an investor or trader, you want to be able to use analyst ratings effectively. Here are steps you can take to understand how to synthesize all the information analysts report about a particular company and how to apply it to your own trades.

Step 1: Check Ratings History

In the short term, look to see whether analysts suggest an initiation, upgrade or downgrade for a particular stock. Understand how the rating changed compared to the previous rating and whether a price target gets announced or changed.

Sometimes the rating stays the same and only the price target changes, which could cause the stock to move in either direction, depending on the significance of the change between the 2 price targets.

Step 2: Check for Other News

In the short term, check to see how the stock reacts to positive or negative news. This will be an indication of the company’s outlook because analyst ratings usually come out after the company announces news (it’ll typically be earnings news).

Step 3: Look at the Sector for News

Check to see if other stocks in the sector also received similar ratings. This could indicate micro news, which refers to when the whole sector or specific company trades in a specific way due to news outside of one company.

Step 4: Look at the Note

If available, look over the analyst note itself. The beginning of the note has the main information of the rating and price target. Investors should also take a look at the summary of the note, which you can find in the first couple pages and give you a concrete overview of the company. This can help you get an understanding of how analysts arrived at their thesis on the stock.

An example of an analyst note. Source: Needham

Step 5: Make a Decision

After reviewing the analyst ratings (and whether the analyst proposes a change or initiation) and find the reason for that note. Make a decision based on the analyst thesis on the company. This should give you guidance on how to make your thesis. Analyst ratings are a good indication of what professionals believe the company or sector will do, helping you get a better understanding of the companies you’re interested in.

Analyst Rating Accuracy

Analyst ratings are not set in stone and nobody knows indefinitely what a stock will do. Therefore, analyst ratings should be taken as an educated guess made by professionals who carefully study the specific company and sector in question. It's not a surprise that the accuracy of each rating can vary by each individual analyst and specific ratings on companies.

In other words, there’s no hard number or percentage on how accurate analyst ratings are because they are like educated guesses on what they think the stock will do based on their research, within that particular sector. In addition, each firm has so many analysts and so many different companies to review that you can compare ratings to glean what you believe is the truth.

Where Analyst Ratings Come From

Analyst ratings come from stock analysts. Analysts “go deep” on companies within a particular industry or sector. Some analysts employ a top-down approach (they start with an industry or sector and look for excellent companies within that industry or sector) and other stock analysts choose a bottom-up approach, which means they start with the company first and connect the dots within that company’s sector or industry. Analysts evaluate:

Financial statements
Economic fundamentals
Suppliers, customers and competitors
Management quality
Business model
Revenue
Expenses
Assets
Liabilities

While these evaluations are done using facts and figures that any investor can access, they come down to a conclusion the analyst must draw. While this isn’t an unqualified opinion, analysts will disagree because their interpretations of the data could vary.

Types of Stock Ratings

Stock ratings can range from simple “buy” and “sell” ratings to “equal weight” and “outperform” ratings. Here’s a quick overview of how analysts rate stocks.

Buy Rating

A “buy” rating indicates that an analyst is optimistic about a stock’s short-term or mid-term growth and recommends that traders purchase the stock. An analyst may even go so far as to indicate that a stock is a “strong buy.” At the same time, you may choose to swing trade the asset for a profit and come back later to start the process all over again.

Sell Rating

A “sell” rating means that an analyst believes the stock will trend downward in a particular time frame. Analysts might even refer to a security as a “strong sell.” Remember, though, you may want to swing trade and come back to this asset in the future even though you just chose to sell, just as you would under a “buy” rating.

Hold

A “hold” rating suggests that investors should not buy more of or sell the specified stock because they believe the stock should perform in a way that’s consistent with the market or will perform similarly to comparable companies within that particular sector. This is akin to the value investing approach that Warren Buffett uses, looking to gain long-term value from a single stock rather than flipping it because of a bad week. As many have said, it’s not a loss until you sell.

Underperform

An “underperform” rating means an analyst indicates that a stock is expected to perform below the market or sector average. And yes, while the underperform rating may not bode well for an asset in the next few weeks, it may not stay that way. Continue to carefully monitor your portfolio to ensure that an underperforming asset hasn’t turned itself around. As companies are faced with the Herculean task of pleasing shareholders, they will push to fix their underperforming stocks, meaning that a stock you wrote off could rise again.

Outperform

An “outperform” rating means that an analyst expects a stock to outperform the market or sector average. While the stock may look to outperform the market or a sector’s average, that doesn’t mean it will continue to soar forever. You must look at an outperform rating as what that asset will do in recent times, but it may not maintain that trajectory.

Equal-Weight

An equal weight rating means that an analyst believes that an individual stock's performance will tie to the average of all the stocks that an analyst covers in that particular sector. This type of rating helps investors get a true comparison of stocks to each other within a particular sector or industry. At the same time, equal-weight ratings could change at any time.

Price Target

A price target is an analyst’s projection of a stock’s future price. A price target is generally set up in a general trade or area where the asset might land. This means that the analyst could get close without hitting the figure on the head. Even so, the analyst wants to get close and better predict the movement of the marketplace and the asset.

Understanding Stock Ratings

Stock ratings are assessments of the investment potential of a particular stock. They are typically created by financial analysts who evaluate a company's financial performance, competitive positioning, and market outlook to provide guidance on the stock's expected future performance.

Ratings typically range from "buy" to "sell," with variations in between, such as "hold," "accumulate," or "neutral." A "buy" rating suggests that the stock is likely to perform well in the future, and investors should consider purchasing it. Conversely, a "sell" rating indicates that the stock is expected to underperform, and investors should consider selling it.

It's important to note that ratings are not guarantees of performance and should not be relied upon solely when making investment decisions. Ratings are just one factor to consider when evaluating a stock's potential, and investors should also conduct their own research and analysis to make informed decisions.

Another thing to keep in mind is that different analysts may have different opinions on a stock, so it's a good idea to consider multiple ratings before making an investment decision.

In addition to analyst ratings, investors can also consider other factors when evaluating a stock, such as its financial statements, management team, industry trends, and overall market conditions. By combining all of these factors, investors can make informed decisions about which stocks to buy or sell.

In summary, stock ratings are an important tool for investors to consider when evaluating a stock's potential, but they should not be the only factor used in investment decision-making. It's important to conduct your own research, consider multiple ratings, and take into account other factors before making an investment decision.

Should You Use Analyst Ratings to Inform Your Own Trades?

You can definitely use analyst ratings to inform your own trades and inform your own thesis but it’s a good idea to do your own research. However, analyst ratings are just one step in what should be a much larger investment strategy. Don’t fall in love with just one analyst. Compare notes. Look into how these ratings match with activity on the market and current events. Plus, remember that an analyst rating could easily be incorrect. No one is perfect, but these ratings are a good place to start.

Visit Benzinga News for more guidance on how to research companies and make decisions about research, trading and investing.

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