
Quote from piezoe:
There is no such calendar and there never will be. Upgrades and downgrades are used mainly by banks to manipulate their clients and the market. (At one time it was mainly investment banks making use of analyst upgrades and downgrades, but since Glass-Steagall was repealed the distinction between investment and commercial banking is blurred.)
Analyst reports, are effective in temporarily pushing the price of a stock up or down, at least until the next quarter and the real earnings are released. Pushing stock down is a little trickier because you have to be careful not to overstep legal bounds, however you can say pretty much anything to push a stock up. Analyst reports incorporate guesses at future earnings. It's usually a safe bet to guess that next quarters earnings will be about what last quarters were plus or minus a little bit depending on which direction you want the stock to move.
Analysts, the ones who keep their jobs, get very good at divining whether a move up or down in a particular stock would be in the best interests of the broker or bank they work for.
Analysts like to curry favor with the companies they cover. They attend bull shit sessions sponsored by the various companies to "enlighten" the analysts on new developments within the company and the rosy outlook for coming quarters. They walk a fine line between scratching the backs of company execs and acting in the best interests of the ones paying their salaries. I'm sure it can be quite nerve wracking.![]()