The purpose of this master thesis is to evaluate how the current share price and market consensus affect security Analysts target price and if an investor should pay any attention to it. Empirical data is primarily collected from qualitative interviews with ten security Analysts but also from a quantitative e-mail survey. Our main finding is that security Analysts are indeed affected by each others earnings forecasts as well as the current share price. This is not strange, it is in several aspects rational. Security Analysts has often nothing to gain by standing out too much and not either by spending too much time trying to create their own opinions due to lack of time or the complexity of what is analyzed.

There has been an increase in the importance and amount of information concerning publicly traded stocks in recent years. When analyzing and valuing stocks finding new ways of collecting information has therefore increased in importance. This thesis aims to explore how meetings with management can impact the stock valuation done by the security Analysts. Furthermore the case study examines what kind of information Analysts can receive by interpreting management at these meetings. This case study of ten Swedish security Analysts show that the analyst?s stock valuation is directly or indirectly affected by the meetings.

Introduction: Analysts worldwide valuates stocks and companies by using different valuation models. The models are used to calculate how much public company?s stocks are worth and to identify whether stocks are over- or undervalued.  Objective: The objective of this essay is to study which valuation models are mainly used by financial Analysts in Swedish banks. The purpose is also to study how reliable these models are considered. Method: The empirical study is based on a qualitative approach through interviews with financial Analysts. The study includes both primary data (interviews) and secondary data (literature, websites and scientific articles)Theory: The theory chapter includes methods of analysis (fundamental and technical analysis), Valuation models, components of valuation and an example of a valuation with the Discounted cash flow model. Empirical study: The study includes a qualitative research that consists of interviews with financial Analysts.

Time has passed since the new standards regarding goodwill were introduced. Duringthe period that occurred pre the financial crisis several companies managed to creategreat goodwill assets on their balance sheet. These assets were highlighted during thefinancial crisis and the aim of this study is to evaluate Analysts contemporaryconsideration of these assets. The study will be of interest due to the fact that we nowfind ourselves in-between periods, post financial crisis and pre euro crisis. Ourempirical study has been carried out by interviewing Analysts covering IT-companiestraded on the Swedish stock exchange.Our Analysts were chosen with consideration to the fact that they were coveringcompanies where acquisitions are common.

Background: An evaluation of Analysts´ forecasting ability is interesting since their estimates constitute an important part in stock valuation and investment decisions. The recent years´ development in the stock market has lead to criticism of Analysts? deficient forecasts. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to evaluate Analysts´ forecasting ability concerning companies quoted at Stockholmsbörsen between 1987 and 2002. We also intend to discuss possible explanations for Analysts? behavior in case of deficient accuracy.

The Swedish population has the world?s largest percentage of shareholders either by direct or indirect owning. Due to the increasing interest of equity capital markets, private as well as institutional investors rely on forecasts from financial Analysts. The reason for this is due to the lack of expertise among investors in this area. Due to the fact that Analysts influence the Swedish stock market immensely, it?s of great interest to explore whether an analyst can be seen as a rational participant.

During the last decades business journalism has vastly increased its share of media coverage. Hvitfelt och Malmström (1990) states that media space devoted to business reporting have more than doubled since the mid 1980s. This fact alone is an important reason for studying the same. Hence this study, which is aimed explicitly at investigating how business press use and manage experts, in this case primarily equity analyst, in their reporting. Our purposes are the following: Examine to what extent media players use analyst in their business reporting.

Analysts at Venture Capital firms of today experience troubles when they try to explicate the intrinsic value, which they see in their investments. The traditional valuation models do not account the value of flexibility and Analysts have to Through studies at a Venture Capital firm in Sweden, I have analyzed if Real Option analysis could help them to explicate the intrinsic value that they see.With the help from a decision tree, Analysts can identify the hidden option values embedded in the investment. I find that real options can be a helpful tool for Venture Capital companiesto clarify the intrinsic values that they see in their investments. Real option analysis is however not a competitor to traditional value methods, it is rather a compliment..

The accounting of today results in reports that are valued according to one kind of value.There are advocates who recommend that the accounting should be expanded by one orseveral columns, which would enable that other methods of valuation could be used. In thisessay we examine how the ?multi column reporting? can alter the outcome of a financialAnalysts? valuation procedure.In this essay we used existing theories about the financial Analysts? usage of information toreach the lack of information we found and which we aim to erase whit this essay. To do thiswe studied decision theories and theories regarding information processing, and by interviewswith three financial Analysts. After we collected the information needed for the analyses, wethen also compared the results of the interviews with related theories.The theories about decision in this essay concern whether a decision is based on rationality,bounded rationality or irrationality.

Abstract: Since the recession caught the market in fall 2008, multiple companies have suffered due to their former aggressive investment behavior. Huge goodwill piles have been collected ready to be doomed by the market. The aim of the study is to investigate equity Analysts? consideration of goodwill in a recession market. An empirical study is conducted, based on interviews with ten Swedish equity Analysts that follow companies with relevant goodwill status.

Stock Analysts have through the analyses they write a large impact on the expectations on the market and the direction of investors investments. This creates undesired fluctuations on the market that raises the level of uncertainty. The way that the Analysts satisfy their need for information is connected to how their final analysis will be shaped. There is a large knowledge gap concerning the way that the Analysts work and this gives unsatisfactory ways of communication. This thesis is set out to create a greater understanding of how optimal communication towards this target group should be brought out.

This study highlights the structures and networks thatexist among financial Analysts on the Swedish financial market. The study isbased on nine semi-structured interviews with buy- and sell-side Analysts, anindependent analyst and an Investor Relations Manager.The theoretical framework of the study is based on acombination of the research fields Behavioral Finance and Social Studies ofFinance. These two research fields have proven to be a good basis for thequalitative approach used in the analysis. The study is divided into four thematic areas: Fundamentals / Psychology, Independence and consensus, Ranking and Social network.The results show that there are a large number offactors, structures and interpersonal relationships that affect how Analystsmake their decisions and conduct their analysis. Among other things, theinterdependence between Analysts and their counterparts prohibits the movetowards a more clear system for compensation.

This thesis investigates whether it is accordance between the different profit measures in the financial market. The first aim of the thesis is to examine if it exists a difference between the profit measures that companies publish in their fourth quarter interim report and the measures that they state in their annual report, issued some months later. The second aim is to examine whether there is a divergence in definitions and the assumption regarding the risk of bankruptcy between profit measures published by companies and Analysts. The study focuses on Swedish companies listed on the OMX Stockholm Large Cap and concerns the years of 2006 and 2007. The Analysts interviewed are working in Sweden with listed Swedish companies.

Background: The interest in shares has increased over the years, despite several stock market crashes. One reason for this is the emergence of stock trading online,which makes it easier for individuals to trade in shares. However, there has been much criticism towards financial analyst with the lack of fundamental basis to support their recommendations.Objective: The purpose of this study is to examine the share valuation models swedish financial Analysts today applies and consider appropriate. A comparison will also be carried out in previous studies, to see if the application of the modelsand their suitability has changed.Method: The study used a qualitative approach with deductive approach. Semistructured interviews were conducted and the basis for the study's primary data.The theories and previous studies obtained through secondary data.Results: Our results demonstrate that no single model applied, is appropriate.

Previous studies have shown that there is a relationship between voluntary disclosure and Analysts' forecast accuracy. However, there has been no research conducted specifically on bridges. Bridges contain information on how components such as price, volume, foreign exchange rates and acquisitions have impacted the financial performance between two periods. The main purpose of this thesis is to investigate the usage of bridges in quarterly financial information of companies listed on Nasdaq Stockholm. We provide a descriptive mapping of bridges and find that 30 out of 268 companies are presenting bridges as a part of their voluntary disclosures, with large firms being the most frequent users.