Apple Stock Is a Sell, According to a Wall Street Analyst
For long-term investors, analyst ratings can usually be safely ignored. Analysts are playing a different game from investors. If your time horizon is measured in years or decades, what a stock does in the next six months just doesn't matter.
Still, analyst opinions can sometimes be useful data points. For example, the reasoning behind an analyst upgrade or downgrade might provide some insight into a company's long-term growth prospects.
Another situation in which investors should pay attention is when an analyst issues a "sell" rating on a stock. Sell ratings are relatively rare. Even during serious recessions over the past few decades, no more than 10% of stocks in the S&P 500 have garnered a "sell" rating at any given time.
Source Fool.com