They're all so silly.
Smith Barney analyst Mark Kalinowski downgraded Starbucks shares to "hold" from "buy" after the company on Wednesday said sales at stores open 13 months, a key retail measure known as same-store sales, rose 7 percent in January. Kalinowski and several other Wall Street analysts had forecast a rise of 10 percent. "This suggests that same-store sales might decelerate at a quicker pace than we had previously anticipated," Kalinowski said in a research note.
Actually, Mark, it suggests that maybe you do a piss-poor job of forecasting stuff and need to find another job. Here's a tip: lower your expectations and watch these stocks--all of them--frickin' amaze you.
In related news, Amazon shares have fallen 16%, after announcing they only gained $0.35 per share instead of the expected $0.40.
This post is light-hearted. It's just funny how much speculation and irrationality is involved with investing. Also, people love to buy stocks when their value is increasing, but panic when they decrease in value, selling them off quickly. It's like going to the grocery store and skipping items that are on sale, opting instead for those items that cost more this week than they did last week.
note The author has a small stake in Starbucks.