Today, 49% of firms in the S&P 500 are rated as “buy”, 45% are rated as “hold” and just 6% are rated as “sell”. This is a travesty! This past year, despite being a good one for equities, 30% of S&P 500 companies yielded negative returns. Stock analysts’ advice should be taken with at least a grain of salt. Consider them nothing more than biased, attention-seeking talking heads.