Shades of Greg Smith muppets are beginning to appear in Apple stock recommendations. Greg Smith is the conscience stricken ex-Goldman Sachs (GS) renegade whose New York Times op-ed was recently widely read and commented on around the world.
The crux of the Greg Smith’s writing is that he believes Goldman Sachs places its own interests before the interests of its clients. Greg Smith wrote:
It makes me ill how callously people talk about ripping their clients off. Over the last 12 months I have seen five different managing directors refer to their own clients as “muppets,” sometimes over internal e-mail. I don’t know of any illegal behavior, but will people push the envelope and pitch lucrative and complicated products to clients even if they are not the simplest investments or the ones most directly aligned with the client’s goals? Absolutely. Every day, in fact.
Sell-side Apple analysts are stumbling over each other in a haste to hike their Apple targets, but is this really in the best interests of clients? Is Greg Smith’s muppet revelation now showing itself among Apple analysts and commentators?
The race is on between Apple analysts and commentators to see who can raise Apple price target higher. An astute investor will ask, “Why the race? Do analysts and commentators have a duty to be responsible? Are the analysts and commentators supposed to put the interest of their clients, viewers, and readers before their self-interest?”
Of course, no one would argue with the foregoing proposition…Read more at Forbes