I always thought that analysts put some serious number crunching and research skill into their recommendations to buy or sell stock in a company. Perhaps I was wrong on some accounts.

One analyst has told investors to sell stock in Palm after reading a poll on a website that said return rates were abnormally high. I hope this person is fired. What sort of tool bases a buy or sell recommendation off a forum post.

PreCentral.net said it best, “Our forums – God love ‘em – are likely to have a higher-than-average rate of people experiencing issues with the Pre. One of a forum’s main functions is solving problems, so people without problems may not head there. Our PreCentral.net forum members understand that context and take the poll within that context. Your average investor reading a release from an analyst firm may not.”

[via ZDNet]