I worked in some banks in Japan and supported the analysts. They...

I worked in some banks in Japan and supported the analysts. They are generally so far behind the curve, it's not funny. Recently, when I owned SBM stock, Deutsche Bank came out with a predicted price of 90c (IIRC) when the stock was already $1.20. Only 2 weeks late...

The analysts are mostly from elite Uni's but they are disincentivised to make bold predictions and incentivised to keep their high paying job so they tend to just recommend "safe" bets like BHP or MQG (Macquarie). It's one reason I don't buy blue chips. They're over-analyzed and priced for perfection. Anyone owning BHP for the last 8 years is down 40%+ on their money. Ouch.

I should note the analysts didn't use TA at all. Just FA, usually with volumes of books and literally green shade lamps on their desks. TA is left to the floor traders who use it like a side talisman to their instincts and Bloomberg feeds.