There's no doubt that broker analysts are very adept at putting...

There's no doubt that broker analysts are very adept at putting "lipstick on pigs" and seem to have an uncanny knack of commencing coverage with lofty SP targets, that often see a surge in price and volume .... to be followed by the inevitable CR .... at a "discount to the 10d average price" .... only to see a subsequent reduction in price and volume ..... followed inevitably by another "analyst update" with "target SP maintained" .... and maybe another CR.
" rinse wash repeat " .... brokers earn money NOT by their clients success (that's incidental) BUT by CR fees.
I was warned off indirectly but an old ex-head of research, who said these "venture capital brokers" need a minimum of 1 CR per week to keep their lights on ... which means almost every dog will have its day .
Now, even though COI has relatively sound fundamentals, it still needs a big brother, and that will remain STO, and they have bigger fish to fry ? And as you imply, development costs are often understated and hence takeover SP over estimated.
Once again, investors can only speculate and there's an abundance of that on HC.