As companies quoted on UK stock markets do not generally publish their own earnings guidance, the role analysts play in forecasting a company’s performance is vital in setting market expectations about its likely profitability and future growth. This becomes the central benchmark by which companies are judged. A company must remain very conscious of the market’s expectations of its performance and immediately inform the market if they become aware that they are likely to diverge materially from consensus analyst forecasts - in the form of issuing either a profits warning, or an upgrade statement. Analysts therefore play a pivotal role in the.
