PurposeThis study aims to examine whether the publication of analyst recommendations has reaction in the Russian stock market. This study also aims to determine the other factors that influence the reaction.Design/methodology/approachEvent study analysis (ESA) and regression models are used in this study.FindingsThe study finds that Russian stock market significantly reacts to analyst recommendations publications. Then study deeply investigates about the influence of other factors on the Russian market when an analyst's recommendations are published such as changes in recommendation levels, companies' size and general economic situation. The analysis done in the context of three types of recommendations: “buy,” “hold” and “sell.” The study finds that the market reacts not only to separate forecasts and subsequent recommendations, but also to the changes in recommendations' levels as well. Interestingly, the study finds that the impact of crises is not found to be a significant factor in the context of the Russian market.Research limitations/implicationsAnalysts used to spend much more resources on conducting a fundamental analysis than ordinary investors do. Therefore, they usually possess valuable privileged information that is supposed to influence stock prices when published. However, the present study argues that the direction, extent and period of a reaction of an analyst's recommendations are highly complicated and depend on what factors are under consideration in a particular research. Very often, the authors who dedicate their papers to develop and study markets choose a couple of (or even one) factors and delve into them. Nevertheless, to the author's best knowledge, few frequently cited and well-conducted research focused on such an emerging market as the Russian one. Thus, it seems reasonable that there is a gap in the literature that needs to be filled while considering other important factors. The study findings have a significant investment policy content.Originality/valueIn several senses, the present study is unique. First, it investigates whether analyst recommendations sufficiently affect the Russian stock market; second, it determines whether the significant factors such as changes in recommendation levels, companies' size and general economic situation have influence on the reaction. Finally, the study discusses about whether there is an impact of crises in the present study findings.

The main objective of the paper is to investigate the analysts’ recommendations’ value and to determine on which market the analysts have more predictive power that can be defined as an extent of a stock price’s reaction around a particular recommendation what leads to abnormal returns of the security. Such recommendations are significant in decision‐making whether to buy or to sell a particular stock. We observed 1,881 events from 168 companies traded at the London Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange in a period between January 1, 2016, and April 31, 2019. We used an event study analysis and classical one‐factor market model to determine expected returns for a particular stock in an estimation window. It was found that both American and European Union markets are feasible to be outperformed by the analysts but it is impossible to highlight any of the markets as they behave almost identically around positive, neutral and negative recommendations.