The recommendations of Wall Street analysts are often relied on by investors when deciding whether to buy, sell, or hold a stock. Media reports about these brokerage-firm-employed (or sell-side) analysts changing their ratings often affect a stock’s price. Do they really matter, though?

Before we discuss the reliability of brokerage recommendations and how to use them to your advantage, let’s see what these Wall Street heavyweights think about Coupang, Inc. (CPNG).

Coupang currently has an average brokerage recommendation (ABR) of 1.29, on a scale of 1 to 5 (Strong Buy to Strong Sell), calculated based on the actual recommendations (Buy, Hold, Sell, etc.) made by 12 brokerage firms. An ABR of 1.29 approximates between Strong Buy and Buy.

Of the 12 recommendations that derive the current ABR, nine are Strong Buy and two are Buy. Strong Buy and Buy respectively account for 75% and 16.7% of all recommendations.

Check price target & stock forecast for Coupang here>>>

The ABR suggests buying Coupang, but making an investment decision solely on the basis of this information might not be a good idea. According to several studies, brokerage recommendations have little to no success guiding investors to choose stocks with the most potential for price appreciation.

Are you wondering why? The vested interest of brokerage firms in a stock they cover often results in a strong positive bias of their analysts in rating it. Our research shows that for every “Strong Sell” recommendation, brokerage firms assign five “Strong Buy” recommendations.

This means that the interests of these institutions are not always aligned with those of retail investors, giving little insight into the direction of a stock’s future price movement. It would therefore be best to use this information to validate your own analysis or a tool that has proven to be highly effective at predicting stock price movements.

With an impressive externally audited track record, our proprietary stock rating tool, the Zacks Rank, which classifies stocks into five groups, ranging from Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) to Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell), is a reliable indicator of a stock’s near -term price performance. So, validating the Zacks Rank with ABR could go a long way in making a profitable investment decision.

Although both Zacks Rank and ABR are displayed in a range of 1-5, they are different measures altogether.

The ABR is calculated solely based on brokerage recommendations and is typically displayed with decimals (example: 1.28). In contrast, the Zacks Rank is a quantitative model allowing investors to harness the power of earnings estimate revisions. It is displayed in whole numbers — 1 to 5.