You'd be better off doing the opposite of broker's recs.

BananaRepublic

EdGasket wrote: »

So for instance brokers were very bullish on Barclays at 280p and became less so as the price declined. Clever boys. Kind of prooves the point made by A J Bell.

There is in the financial world a great deal of herd instinct, just as there is in other areas of life including politics. Essentially if a broker recommends a stock which everyone else says to avoid, and it tanks, they take a hit to their reputation. People will say "What fools, everyone knew it would tank". If on the other hand they recommend a stock which everyone else says to buy, and it tanks, people will say "Ah well, we all thought it was a winner, bad luck".

I assume certain areas will be trendy, and popular, or have seen recent growth, so the 'wise people' recommend those areas. The dot com boom was one such example, a magnificant castle on foundations made from hope, prayers and greed.

Superscrooge

Jack Bogle, founder of Vanguard - All you need to know about investing in three words.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0gQiz0pCyI

EdGasket

Superscrooge wrote: »

Jack Bogle, founder of Vanguard - All you need to know about investing in three words.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0gQiz0pCyI

"Nobody Knows Nothing". <-- doesn't inspire confidence because the double negative means somebody does know something!

Malthusian

EdGasket wrote: »

This site has broker recs going back a year or more e.g. see this example for tesco and the 'Broker Views' tab:

http://www.nandp.co.uk/sharedealing/company/?companyCode=TSCO

It only goes back four months - for even a casual fag-packet study I'd need five years.

Ref. "They do not serve any purpose for DIY investors"; not quite true because share prices can move as a result of a new broker rec. and therefore the DIY investor needs to be aware of what the brokers are saying but not necessarily follow their recommendation.

No they don't, any more than DIY investors need to be aware of the million other things that affect short term market movements. Those who gamble on short-term market movements may care about such things but gambling doesn't interest me.

EdGasket

These ones go back 5 years:

http://www.nandp.co.uk/sharedealing/company/?companyCode=BMS

It depends on the company and how many brokers there are coming up with new predictions.

Well each to their own but I think it quite informative for the DIY investor that broker forecasts, although affecting the price short-term, can be quite wrong.

xylophone

I know what you mean.....I've felt less than reassured since the dear Governor's latest pronouncement.....:)

Mr_Benn

Rather than look at their predictions, Id like to see the number of shares Mr Tipster (and his family) bought before his tips hit the newspapers

EdGasket

Mr_Benn wrote: »

Rather than look at their predictions, Id like to see the number of shares Mr Tipster (and his family) bought before his tips hit the newspapers

These are broker recs; totally different.

grey_gym_sock

why would anybody expect investment banks to pay brokers to come up with share recommendations, and then distribute them free to the general public, purely as a public service? isn't there something ever so slightly implausible about that picture? (not about the concept of giving stuff away for free in general, but about the finance sector doing it.)

bigadaj

EdGasket wrote: »

These are broker recs; totally different.

Well not totally different......