“In each of these cases, brokerages made millions. The analysts made millions. The companies they promoted raked in millions. But investors lost their shirts. Not one major firm on Wall Street tied its analysts’ compensation to their actual track record in picking stocks. Analysts could be wrong once, wrong twice, wrong a hundred times, and they’d still earn huge bonuses, as long as they continued to recommend the shares and as long as there were still enough investors who continued to buy into the hype. The current cycle of complacency does not favor investor vigilance — let alone Wall Street transparency. Quite to the contrary, it’s the perfect climate for more scams and deceptions.”
http://www.moneyandmarkets.com/the-great-deception-part-ii-61958