NerdWallet investigated all the 883 analyst ratings issued on the Dow Jones 30 stocks in 2012.
All the recommendations were issued prior to January 1, 2012.
Then it compared the recommendations to stock performance through 2012.
NerdWallet found that only 51 percent of the recommendations were correct.
Yes, predicting stock movement is challenging, but you do expect highly paid analysts with decades of experience to at least beat the average. And 49 percent of analysts failed on that parameter.