EOS Charts, page-203

Different broking companies will be at different stages in their "advice" cycle. The cycle goes something like this:

1. An analyst at the brokerage discovers a stock trading at a price significantly below some arguable "fair value".
2. Without telling anybody outside the brokerage the analyst will inform the traders, who will take a position in the stock while trying to push the price up only enough to form an "up-tick".
3. The brokerage will then inform their major clients of the opportunity and will help them buy up, again trying to produce only a small upward movement.
4. The brokerage will then publish a newsletter to their general clientele, providing their argument for the "fair value" and pointing out the recent uptick as reinforcement. The general clientele will buy, producing further upward movement and consolidating the brokerage's profits. Typically the brokerage will begin to sell now.
5. The broker's newsletter will "leak" to the general public through a combination of the general clientele sharing it, and the broker themselves spreading it around. The numpties (we retail investors) will read it, see the recent upward movement, and will swarm on board. At the same time the brokerage will inform their major clients that the run is complete and they will sell into the demand.
6. The broker will now send updated "guidance" to their general clientele so they have a chance to offload while the numpties are still piling in.

Too long? The shorter version:

1. The broking companies harvest their clients.
2. The major clients harvest the general clients.
3. Everybody harvests the numpties.

Still too long? The short version:

1. By the time you read it, guidance from a broker is almost certainly designed to make you act against your own interests.