At The Motley Fool, we poke plenty of fun at Wall Street
analysts and their endless cycle of upgrades, downgrades, and
"initiating coverage at neutral." So you might think we'd be
the last people to give virtual ink to such "news." And we
would be -- if that were all we were doing.
But in "This Just In," we don't simply tell you what the
analysts said. We'll also show you whether they know what
they're talking about. To help, we've enlisted
Motley Fool CAPS, our tool for rating stocks and analysts
alike. With CAPS, we track the long-term performance of Wall
Street's best and brightest -- and its worst and sorriest,
too.
And speaking of the best...
What do you do when one of the biggest names in
stockpicking pulls a complete 180 on one of the most popular
names in retail? Personally, I listen up. And from what I
hear,
Citigrouphad a change of heart on
Target (NYSE: TGT).
Predicting that "gross margin gains and productivity
improvements" will lead to "positive SSS growth" in the
coming year, Citi upped its price target on the stock by 39%,
and swung all the way around from a "sell" rating to "buy"
this morning.
From sell to buy in 60 seconds
Yet for 20 long months, Citi has been advising its
clients to dump Target's stock. As of today, that counsel's
cost investors more than 16 percentage points of market
underperformance. Today, Citi asks that you forget what it
told you back in February 2008 (sorry, Citi,
CAPS never forgets) and buy Target stock. Should you
listen?
Let's go to the tape
Um, no. Oh, I know Citi's record in the retail space
isn't
allbad:
Company
Citi Says:
CAPS says:
Citi's Picks Beating (Lagging) S&P
By:
American Eagle (NYSE: AEO)
Outperform
***
33 points (two picks)
Gap (NYSE: GPS)
Outperform
*
28 points (two picks)
Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:
ANF)
Underperform
**
8 points (two picks)
Bed Bath & Beyond (Nasdaq:
BBBY) Continued... |