Analyst Price Target
The average price Wall Street analysts covering a stock expect it to reach — plus the spread between the most bullish and most bearish estimate.
What it means
An analyst price target is a Wall Street research analyst's estimate of where a stock's price will be, typically over the next 12 months, based on their own financial modeling of the company. MarketWall reports the mean (average) target across every analyst currently covering a stock, alongside the high and low estimates in that same group and the total number of analysts contributing. A wide gap between the high and low targets signals real disagreement among analysts about the company's prospects; a tight cluster signals more consensus. Price targets typically come bundled with a recommendation (buy, hold, or sell) reflecting the same analyst's overall view, not just the specific price.
How MarketWall calculates it
MarketWall reports the mean, high, and low analyst price targets, the analyst count, and the consensus recommendation from each stock's weekly Yahoo Finance fundamentals sync. See the Data Sources & Methodology page for the full sync schedule.
How it's typically used
Price targets are opinions, not guarantees — they're one analyst's model of a company's future, built on assumptions (revenue growth, margins, the multiple the market will eventually pay) that can and do turn out wrong. They're most useful in relative terms rather than as a literal prediction: how far the current price sits below or above the mean target (the "implied upside" or "downside"), how many analysts are actually covering the stock (a target built from 15 analysts reflects more independent research than one built from 2), and how wide the spread is between the high and low estimate. A stock trading well below its mean target isn't automatically a buying opportunity — it can mean the market disagrees with the analysts and is pricing in a risk their models haven't caught up to yet, which happens often enough that "analysts see upside" shouldn't be read as a standalone signal. Analyst targets also tend to lag reality more than lead it — they're frequently revised after a company's own guidance or earnings report moves the stock, rather than anticipating the move, which is worth keeping in mind before treating a target as a reliable forecast. Sell-side analysts (the ones producing these targets) are employed by banks and brokerages with their own business relationships to the companies they cover, and buy recommendations have historically outnumbered sell recommendations by a wide margin across the industry — a useful piece of context for calibrating how much weight to put on any single target or rating.
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FAQ
What does 'implied upside' mean?
The percentage difference between a stock's current price and the analysts' mean price target — a stock at $80 with a $100 mean target has 25% implied upside, meaning analysts collectively expect it to rise that much.
Why do analyst price targets sometimes miss badly?
They're built on assumptions about the company's future that can turn out wrong, and they're also frequently revised after new information (earnings, guidance) rather than predicting it — targets tend to follow the stock more than lead it.
Does a wide spread between the high and low target mean anything?
Yes — it signals real disagreement among the analysts covering the stock, often because the company's future depends on something genuinely uncertain (a new product's success, a regulatory outcome, and so on).
Are sell-side analyst ratings unbiased?
Worth some skepticism — analysts work for banks and brokerages with business relationships to the companies they cover, and buy ratings have historically outnumbered sell ratings industry-wide by a wide margin.
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