Are Analysts’ Recommendations Informative? Intraday Evidence on the Impact of Time Stamp Delays: Are Analysts’ Recommendations Informative?

We demonstrate that time stamps reported in I/B/E/S for analysts� recommendations released during trading hours are systematically delayed. Using newswire-reported time stamps, we find 30-minute returns of 1.83% (-2.10%) for upgrades (downgrades), but for this subset of recommendations we find corresponding returns of -0.07% (-0.09%) using I/B/E/S-reported time stamps. We also examine the information content of recommendations relative to management guidance and earnings announcements. Our evidence suggests that analysts� recommendations are the most important information disclosure channel examined.