“Analysts Lose 17% for Investors in Brokerage Picks (Update2) By Eric Martin and Josh Fineman June 6 (Bloomberg) -- Investors who followed the advice of analysts who say when to buy and sell shares of brokerage firms and banks lost 17 percent in the past year, twice the decline of the Standard & Poor's 500 Index. Buying shares on the advice of Merrill Lynch & Co.'s Guy Moszkowski, the top-ranked brokerage analyst in Institutional Investor's annual survey, cost investors 17 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Deutsche Bank AG analyst Michael Mayo's counsel to purchase New York-based Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. lost 59 percent. Citigroup Inc.'s Prashant Bhatia still rates Merrill ``buy'' after its 56 percent retreat from a January 2007 record. Of the 39 analysts tracked by Bloomberg who follow stocks in the Amex Securities Broker/Dealer Index, 32 produced losses for investors. Investors who bought brokerages on ``buy'' recommendations, sold when they switched to ``hold'' and speculated prices would decline when analysts said ``sell,'' lost 17 percent in the last year through June 3, compared with the S&P 500's 8.5 percent drop. ``One would expect that if there was any industry Wall Street estimates would be more precise on, it would be their own,'' said Richard Weiss, who oversees $60 billion as chief investment officer at City National Bank in Beverly Hills, California. ``But this particular debacle was so global in nature and pervasive, you can't blame them for missing this one.'' ”
