When Buy Means Sell : An Investor's Guide to Investing When It Counts

Book Description

Proven strategies for knowing which stock analysts to believe, which to ignore ­­and when to sell

Investors are tired of losing money to the bad calls and noncalls of Wall Street analysts, especially on the heels of Enron and other "surprise" stock meltdowns. Instead of giving up, When Buy Means Sell presents an innovative, market-tested system for knowing which recommendations to trust, sniffing out conflicts of interest, and making buy and sell decisions based on valuable, impartial information.

The first fresh approach to this age-old problem, When Buy Means Sell shows investors how to make sense of­­and profit from­­what Wall Street analysts are really saying, by revealing:

* Who the real prophets are­­from individual stars to leading firms
* How to read analyst calls like an insider
* Where to find the truly valuable information



Book Info
Contains proven strategies for knowing which stock analysts to believe, which to ignore, and when to sell. Presents an innovative, market tested system for knowing which recommendations to trust, and making buy and sell decisions based on valuable, impartial information.

From the Back Cover

The First Market-Proven System for Understanding–and Profiting From–the Real Truth Behind Analysts' Recommendations

How can Wall Street analysts proclaim a stock as a "Strong Buy" at $60–and one year later call it "Neutral" at $17? Why would a stockbroker tell you to "Hold" a stock if his firm's research suggests it is destined to fall further?

And is there any way of knowing what analysts are thinking–versus what they are saying?

When Buy Means Sell shows you how to understand the real meanings behind analysts' recommendations and use them to your long-term advantage. This first-of-its-kind book discusses:

* When you should follow an analyst's advice–or do exactly the opposite
* Research into the track records of Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, and other brokerage houses
* Time-proven rules of investing you should follow regardless of what analysts are saying

The legitimacy of analysts' advice is one of the most enduring myths of Wall Street. But Wall Street's multibillion-dollar research machine can provide you with outstanding guidance once you know how to use it. Let When Buy Means Sell show you how to determine what analysts really believe, and build a profitable portfolio based on what will work best for you–instead of for the analyst's employer.

Which brokerage firms have provided consistently strong stock recommendations in the computer and technology sector?

When does a plummeting stock price form intrinsic value for the underlying security, and when does it simply indicate a bad investment?

Which mutual fund manager has outperformed the S&P 500 Index every year since 1990–and what is he buying now?

Investors have discovered that blindly following the advice of brokerage house "analysts" and market pundits is chancy at best, and can be downright disastrous. While these recommendations appear to serve the investor, they often serve instead to inflate the price of questionable stocks–with those in the know getting out at the top while individual investors hang on for dear life as their portfolio values plummet.

So what are you to do? How can you get any value from advice published by stock analysts?

When Buy Means Sell presents a breakthrough system for reading between the lines and using Wall Street recommendations to beat the market. Based on an in-depth study of the records of today's top analysts and brokerages, this pull-no-punches book reveals:

* When to ignore words like "strong buy"–and which words really matter
* Strategies for using upgrades and downgrades to make profitable buy and sell decisions
* Inescapable rules and techniques that must be a part of every investing strategy

When Buy Means Sell introduces an approach that is innovative, honest, and refreshingly straightforward to investors weary of wading through conflicts of interest and questionable advice. Author Eric Shkolnik, a veteran follower of stock analysts and founder of the popular website marketperform.com, reviews decades of brokerage house research and its subsequent results to reveal what has worked and what hasn't. He shows you how to use analysts' ratings to build a portfolio with a much stronger chance of avoiding meltdowns and beating the market over the long haul.

Once you learn to approach analysts' calls with a healthy dose of skepticism, and follow what analysts are thinking versus what they are actually saying, there is measurable value to be found in the recommendations of the pros. When Buy Means Sell shows you how to look beyond Street noise and sleight-of-hand to determine what expert analysts really believe about today's market, and use that knowledge to build a stronger, more profitable portfolio.


About the Author

Eric Shkolnik (New York, NY) is CEO and cofounder of marketperform.com, a pioneer service that measures the performance of finsancial institution stock recommendations. Shkolnik and the firm have been featured in Business-Week and Hedge World, and on Bloomberg and TheStreet.com.


# Hardcover: 256 pages
# Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (September 23, 2002)
# Language: English
# ISBN-10: 0071387064
# ISBN-13: 978-0071387064