How to Use the Analyst Forecast Pages  

1. How to Use the Analyst Forecast Pages in Your Investing Strategy  

TipRanks offers an exclusive feature of Analyst Forecasts on stocks. An average investor would find it challenging to build complex financial models for stocks or to forecast a stock’s future price target. TipRanks makes this easier for you by providing both individual and consensus analyst forecasts on stocks. 

A forecast is simply an analyst’s future expectation for the stock, based on thorough research and understanding of the company and the related sector. Following the study, the analyst recommends either Buying/Holding/Selling the stock and assigns a 12-month price target for the stock. Analyzing these forecasts can prove to be highly beneficial in your stock-picking process, to understand whether or not it is worthwhile to invest in a stock currently.  

The Analyst Forecast page on TipRanks gives you the analyst’s overall/consensus views and price targets on a stock. On this page, you will find the consensus Strong Buy/Moderate Buy/Hold/Moderate Sell/Strong Sell rating for the stock, which is a weighted average calculation based on a 3-point system that incorporates the analyst ratings made over the last 3 months. 

The average 12-month price target is also a combined price target of all analysts tracking the stock in the past three months. What’s more, the price target shows you the related upside/downside potential (%) from the stock’s current price levels. The page also shows you the highest and the lowest price targets assigned by any analyst. You can even select if you want to see All Analysts‘ ratings or only the Top Analysts‘ (those who consistently outperform the market) ratings on a stock. By analyzing these aspects, you can decide if this is the right time for you to take a position in the stock.  

Further below you will find a Detailed List of Analyst Forecasts for the stock along with all the necessary information about both the analyst and their recommendation. As you scroll down, you will find data on the Best Analysts Covering the stock, which includes four Most Accurate Analyst rating the stock, and the four Most Profitable Analysts rating the stock. Finally, at the bottom of the page, you will see TipRanks’ Financial Forecast for a stock. This includes the Earnings Forecast and Sales Forecast for the upcoming quarter, as well as the Analyst Recommendation Trends for a stock. All these datapoints will assist you to make appropriate and timely stock selection.  

2. How to Use the “Best Analysts Covering” Tool in Your Investing Strategy  

Do you know how to find the best analysts covering a particular stock from the thousands of analysts tracking a specific stock? Well, TipRanks makes it easy for you by providing a list of the Most Accurate Analysts and the Most Profitable Analysts for each stock. The Best Analysts Covering tool allows you to follow the analysts who have the best success rates and average returns on a specific stock. Only analysts that have given a Buy or Sell rating on the stock in the past 12 months are eligible for inclusion in this tool. You can find this information right below the Detailed List of Analyst Forecasts on the Forecast page. 

Under both the tabs, you can see the best analyst to follow option if you want to “buy and sell the stock” after different time frames, namely 1 Month, 3 Months, 1 Year, and 2 Years. At a glance, you can see each analyst’s Success Rate for the specified period, and the related Average Return.  

The figures imply that if you had followed the analyst for the specific time frame, you would have generated similar average returns on your investment. After studying the various performances, you can easily know who to trust. You can also choose to follow any analyst from the list and receive real-time alerts of new ratings from the analyst.  

3. How We Collect and Display Analyst Ratings on Stocks  

Studying an analyst’s research report can be a tedious task, and even more so if you are trying to get a gist of their view on a particular stock. At TipRanks, we make this simple for you by collecting and displaying thousands of analyst ratings on a multitude of stocks.  

TipRanks collects Analysts’ Ratings and Price Targets on stocks by scanning publicly available reports on financial websites and by receiving research reports directly from analysts, research firms, or customers.  

The analyst ratings are displayed on the Forecast Page of the stock in the form of a detailed list, as below. Having all this information simplified on a single page, makes it easy for you to assimilate the data and formulate your investment decision wisely.  

• Analyst Profile including the name and Star Ranking 
• Name of the Expert Firm of the analyst 

• The 12-month Price Target on the stock 
• Analyst’s Position on the stock – Buy/Hold/Sell 
• Upside/Downside potential (% terms) from the current price levels 
• Analyst’s Action – Assigned/Reiterated/Initiated/Upgraded/Downgraded 
• Date when the view was given 

• Option to Follow the analyst 
• The Article sourcing the Analyst’s latest opinion on the stock 

What’s more, you can sort the analyst list by clicking on the dropdown menu. There are four options available: Analyst Performance (Star Rating), the Analyst Rating on the stock (Buy/Hold/Sell), Upside/Downside potential (% terms), and the analyst’s Action (Assigned/Reiterated/Initiated/Upgraded/Downgraded). 

4. How We Designate “Top Analysts”  

At TipRanks, you are spoiled for choice with the thousands of analysts we cover and the multitude of stocks in our universe. How can one decide if an analyst is worth following and whether their recommendations are worth considering? TipRanks simplifies this process for you by ranking analysts and sorting the best-performing analysts as Top Analysts.   

TipRanks defines Top Analysts based on a combination of different parameters. These are analysts with the highest overall ranking, highest ranking per sector, highest ranking per time frame, and highest ranking against different benchmarks.   

Notably, Top Analysts often earn a five-star rating from TipRanks. Reaching a 5-star rating is extremely difficult and guarantees the analyst has a High Success Rate accompanied by a High Average Return and High Transaction Count. TipRanks also dedicates a whole section to the top-ranked 25 analysts, which you can further filter by sector to see who you should trust! 

5. How We Calculate Analyst Consensus on Each Stock  

TipRanks provides Analyst Consensus for each stock on its database. Each analyst’s view on a stock is consolidated and an average analyst consensus is calculated as follows: Strong Buy, Moderate Buy, Hold, Moderate Sell, or Strong Sell.  

The consensus is calculated with a 3-point system that incorporates the analyst ratings made over the last 3 months, where: 

Buy = 1 

Hold = 3 

Sell = 5 

The score of every rating made in the last 3 months is calculated to provide one of 5 consensuses: 

Strong Buy: less than or equal to 1.5 

Moderate Buy: more than 1.5, but less than or equal to 2.5 

Hold: more than 2.5, but less than or equal to 3.5 

Moderate Sell: more than 3.5, but less than or equal to 4.5 

Strong Sell: more than 4.5 

Importantly, the consensus rating of the Top Analysts on a stock is based only on those Wall Street analysts whose recommendations were most accurate. The performance measurement incorporates the analysts’ Success Rates and Average Returns and is based on the TipRanks Star Ranking system. 

6. How We Calculate the Consensus Price Target on Each Stock  

Analysts often assign price targets to their buy, hold, and sell recommendations, after undertaking a thorough study of the stock and the sector. TipRanks displays ratings from all analysts listing 12-month Price Targets on a stock in the last 3 months. TipRanks then aggregates all price targets from all analysts recommending a stock and creates a high, average, and low, price target based on a combination of them all. 

The average of these target expectations is the Consensus Price Target, which will reflect either upside or downside potential for the stock. This reveals positive or negative sentiment circling a given stock’s opportunity. Based on the upside/downside potential of the stock, you can decide if this is the right time for you to enter the stock. 

7. How to Use the “Financial Forecast” for Stocks  

At the bottom of the Analyst Forecast page, you will find three charts detailing the Financial Forecast for the stock. In each chart, you will see data for a total of five quarterly figures, with four covering the most recently reported historical quarters and one for the upcoming unreported quarter. By studying the trends in these three charts simultaneously, you can gauge if the stock is poised for underperformance or overperformance, helping you to make an appropriate investment decision.  

The first chart refers to the Earnings Forecast ($ earnings per share) of a stock. For the unreported quarter, you will see three earnings forecasts, namely, the High EPS forecast, the Low EPS forecast, and the Consensus EPS forecast for the next quarter. When you hover over the line graph for the historical quarters, you will see the Actual EPS (the color red means Miss, the color green means Beat), the Consensus EPS, and the EPS Range for the quarter. In the texts beside the Earnings Forecast chart, you will read about how many times the stock has beat its EPS estimates (in % terms) in the past 12 months, as compared to the overall industry beat in the same period. Based on the same, TipRanks will tell you whether the stock has Outperformed or Underperformed its overall industry in the last calendar year.  

Next comes the chart for the Sales Forecast (figure in U.S. dollars) of a stock. For the unreported quarter, you will see three sales forecasts, namely, the High sales forecast, the Low sales forecast, and the Consensus sales forecast for the next quarter. When you hover over the line graph for the historical quarters, you will see the Actual Sales figure (the color red means Miss; the color green means Beat), the Consensus Sales, and the Sales Range for the quarter. In the texts beside the Sales Forecast chart, you will read about how many times the stock has beaten its sales estimates (in % terms) in the past 12 months, as compared to the overall industry beat in the same period. Based on the same, TipRanks will tell you whether the stock has Outperformed or Underperformed its overall industry in the last calendar year.  

Lastly, you will see the chart for the stock’s Analyst Recommendation Trends. The bar graph displays the breakdown of the Buy, Hold, and Sell recommendations of analysts on the stock. By studying the trend of the changes in the recommendations, you can gauge whether a stock is poised for significant upward or downward momentum, or for minimal change. In the texts beside this chart, you will read about the stock’s average analyst price target assigned in the past three months. Also, you will see how many analysts are rating the stock as Buy, Hold, or Sell in the current month. 

The TipRanks Financial Forecast section assists you in analyzing the trend of earnings and sales misses or beats. Plus, knowing the expectations of analysts for the unreported period can help investors understand if the company will be able to outperform expectations or not, and thus whether to make a Buy, Hold or Sell decision on the stock.