Crowded Analyst Coverage

Speaker

Marius-Andrei Zoican, University of Toronto

Abstract

Analyst stock coverage is “crowded:” the most-covered 5% U.S. equities amount to 25% of earnings forecasts. Coverage clustering persists after controlling for factors commonly associated with analyst following, and correlates with investors’ demand for information. Is information supply optimally distributed in financial markets? We build a model where limited-attention investors endogenously learn about securities. Analysts compete for scarce investor attention, providing forecasts that reduce learning costs. Coverage crowding emerges through strategic complementarity effects. For limited investor attention, analysts prefer to share a crowded space rather than “going against the wind” to cover more opaque assets. However, coverage skewness is excessive from the investors’ perspective.

Download the paper on SSRN.