Broker Recommendations

buy, sell, or hold recommendations and variations thereof, sometimes called opinions or ratings and expressed in numbers or alphanumerically, assigned by securities analysts working in broker research departments to stocks they cover. Different brokers use different variations, and research reports usually indicate what they mean. Commonly used variations include: strong buy, buy, accumulate, hold, outperform, market perform, underperform, and sell. Strong buy, buy, hold, and sell are self-explanatory. "Accumulate" is the weakest form of buy recommendation, generally implying that if you are following a constant dollar plan, you would not exclude these shares at this time. It may have a more negative implication, however, if "accumulate" represents a downgrade from a previous buy recommendation; that says, in effect, "Buy it, but not with the degree of confidence previously warranted." Outperform, market perform, and underperform project 12-month price behavior relative to the overall market as measured by the standard & poor's 500 composite index.