QIN (ASX) Where to from here

Originally posted by madamswer ↑

"well actually they say specifically that you should no longer rely on their previous recommendation (of speculative buy, 3.38). In broker speak that's as close to a 'run for hills' as it gets!"

Sure, now that the damage is done the broker undergoes a sudden masquerade of being prudent. My 10-year old nephew could do that.

I see there's lots of hate for brokers here, but they're just salespeople - in the industry they are referred to as the 'Sell side'. They shouldn't be compared to a doctor or a lawyer, their advice should be compared to that you'd get from a car salesman or a travel agent.

The difference being that if I come back from the car lot or the travel agent I have in my possession a car or an airline ticket. And, in the overwhelming majority of cases, the car goes for a few years or I have a successful flight that lands in my chose destination city.

Based on the simply woeful track record of stockbroker Target Prices, extending your car salesman/travel agent analogies, it would be like 1 out every 2 cars bought from car salesmen having a wheel fall off or an engine blow up within the first year of ownership, or you ending up in up in a totally strange city, to your selected travel destination, on every other flight.

Can you show me a single stockbroker who stands up and says, "We are hosting company XYZ on an investor roadshow for the purposes of raising capital for them. But because we always want to act in the interests of our clients - truth be told - we really think the business model is flawed and we don't trust the management."?

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yeah but you are stretching the metaphor beyond breaking point. Investment is hard. Show me anyone who gets everything right all the time, or any fund manager that always beats the market - I'll show you someone who is lying! Saying brokers often get it wrong is well, duh.

The point remains that some add value, some don't - and that the value they add isn't usually in their investment recommendations, but more often in parsing information as it relates to the stock they cover. If you ask a Ford salesman whether to buy a Ford or a Holden, he's going to sell you a Ford - but if you want information about what features a Mondeo has, he's probably going to have the answer. If you are looking for stock recommendations from a salesman, you are probably looking in the wrong place.