Investors often turn to recommendations made by Wall Street analysts before making a Buy, Sell, or Hold decision about a stock. While media reports about rating changes by these brokerage-firm employed (or sell-side) analysts often affect a stock's price, do they really matter?Let's take a look at what these Wall Street heavyweights have to say about Gilead Sciences (GILD) before we discuss the reliability of brokerage recommendations and how to use them to your advantage.Gilead currently has an average bro ...

Group 1 - Netflix has an average brokerage recommendation (ABR) of 1.68, indicating a consensus between Strong Buy and Buy, based on 42 brokerage firms' recommendations [2] - Out of the 42 recommendations, 27 are Strong Buy (64.3%) and 2 are Buy (4.8%) [2] - The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Netflix's earnings has increased by 0.8% over the past month to $24.58, reflecting analysts' growing optimism [12] Group 2 - The ABR should not be the sole basis for investment decisions, as studies show limited success of brokerage recommendations in predicting stock price increases [4] - Brokerage analysts tend to exhibit a positive bias due to vested interests, often leading to overly optimistic ratings [5][9] - The Zacks Rank, which is based on earnings estimate revisions, is a more reliable indicator of stock price performance compared to the ABR [10][11] Group 3 - The recent change in the consensus estimate and other factors have resulted in a Zacks Rank 2 (Buy) for Netflix, suggesting potential for stock price appreciation [13] - The ABR for Netflix can serve as a useful guide for investors, especially when validated against the Zacks Rank [13]