Research Reports on Initial Public Offerings (IPOs): Analysis of Target Stock Price Accuracy

Research Reports on Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) offer analysts with unique challenges. There is little, if any, financial background on the corporation and these Reports can be very influential as the company goes public for the first time. We examined 692 Research Reports issued on nearly 200 IPO's during 2013 and found their Target Stock Price (TSP) accuracy to be very respectable when compared to Reports issued on mature companies. We looked at IPO Reports issued by at least one analyst with a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA ) designation. These results showed a slightly higher, accuracy rate than reports issued by non-CFA analyst(s). Finally, we ranked twelve securities firms on their TSP accuracy rates.