Are hated stocks good investments?

We study the performance of hated stocks, defined as stocks with the average analyst recommendation level of hold or worse. From 2009 to 2016, this group of hated stocks in S&P 500 performs better than the other stocks in S&P 500. When we extend the sample to all stocks with at least five analysts following, hated stocks again outperform non-hated stocks in the same time period. However, this result is driven by two factors: the impact of the time period of 2009 and 2010, and low priced stocks. If we start the strategy of investing in hated stocks at the beginning of 2011, or if we exclude low priced stocks, there is no significant outperformance of the hated stocks.