Excerpt: Part I of this Article provides an overview of research analysts and their basic functions, including a discussion of sell-side analysts' role in the market's recent boom and bust. Part II examines the conflicts of in-
terest that have plagued sell-side research, and Part III reviews the Regu-
latory Actions that are meant to address these conflicts. In Part IV, the
author will make the case for encouraging, rather than lessening, investor
skepticism in sell-side research and will explain why the Regulatory Ac-
tions are not likely to improve the performance of sell-side analysts. Fi-
nally, Part V will offer a simpler proposal to address the sell-side analyst
issue. While there may not be a solution to the "maybe not" problem, the
information gap between institutional investors and retail investors re-
garding the weaknesses of sell-side research can be eliminated, which
would allow retail investors to benefit from the value of sell-side re-
search while also granting them the opportunity to properly protect them-
selves from its weaknesses. Akin to the Surgeon General's warning for
cigarette manufacturers, this Article proposes that sell-side analysts and
their firms be required to prominently include, with all research, a short
and clear warning from the United States Securities and Exchange
Commission ("SEC"), regarding the historical weaknesses of sell-side
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