Investors often turn to recommendations made by Wall Street analysts before making a Buy, Sell, or Hold decision about a stock. While media reports about rating changes by these brokerage-firm employed (or sell-side) analysts often affect a stock's price, do they really matter? Before we discuss the reliability of brokerage recommendations and how to use them to your advantage, let's see what these Wall Street heavyweights think about High Tide Inc. (NASDAQ: HITI). High Tide currently has an average brokerage recommendation of 1.25, on a scale of 1 to 5 (Strong Buy to Strong Sell), calculated based on the actual recommendations (Buy, Hold, Sell, etc.) made by four brokerage firms. An ABR of 1.25 approximates between Strong Buy and Buy. Of the four recommendations that derive the current ABR, three are Strong Buy and one is Buy. Strong Buy and Buy respectively account for 75% and 25% of all recommendations. Brokerage Recommendation Trends for HITI While the ABR calls for buying High Tide, it may not be wise to make an investment decision solely based on this information. Several studies have shown limited to no success of brokerage recommendations in guiding investors to pick stocks with the best price increase potential. Are you wondering why? The vested interest of brokerage firms ...