the price target is not always what they are aiming for. Those...

the price target is not always what they are aiming for. Those volatility measures and Theta (for time) and Gamma (time and volatility) can create all sorts of weird and wild variations of price target. Quant traders in the big banks like Mac or UBS etc aren’t looking at the business as such, more the price momentum etc that you see in lots of these charting threads. Those prices for MS are based on 12 months and will change depending on what is known about the business. MS we’re pretty close to correct with PLS’s quarterly but so were the other brokers as the big market cap companies let analysts to have a pretty deep understanding of the business so that if there is a need for corporate debt etc then it’s not a surprise as to what it’s needed for.

So Mac Bank and Morgan Stanley are the Strong Buy and the Sell brokers in that report of yours from Bells (which uses Citi research, Citi are hopeless to deal with…). The price targets are a reflection on where those banks see the overall market and the stock specific outcomes intersect or diverge. Mac thinks lithium is underpriced and will stay higher hence their belief in PLS being worth over $7 a share in 12 months time. MS with exactly the same info believe that lithium is still a bit too high and the target price is $4.20 (up from $4.15 a week ago and up from $3.25 a few months ago). Mac Bank have a very flash office with lots of cool things, MS are all suits and ties and compliance comes first. Mac is aggressive and MS is conservative. However MS also does a lot in the structured position market and options and derivatives etc, their trading desk is pretty much all ex-UBS. MS has a low price target because they are conservative but they also have a very bullish target as they are traders too.

Ultimately I guess the guys moving the price aren’t the same as the ones investing for a longer period of time but sometimes they are both. You can structure puts and calls around your core holding to pick up more or protect gains without actually doing anything with that core holding. So all of the big institutional holders will be holding via a fund that might be aiming for 5 years plus but at the very same time that institutional investor could hypothecate their holding (lend it out to someone that then sells those shares as a short) to a trader within their business. Mac Bank runs funds and quant traders and shorting trades so they could do all that with their own holding by moving it all around the different trading desks.

Long story short… dunno mate? No idea how and when the price targets are meant to be hit?? I just buy and sell options to protect or increase holdings and sometimes just for gain hence my use of broad and general direction indicators like Heiken-Ashi bars and pitchforks. I always find it quite interesting the depth that other people get to on charts, confuses me no end but is very interesting and helps with understanding how it all works.