Are price targets for 12 months?

Okay, so you’re wondering about these price targets, right? Are they, like, always for 12 months? Well, generally, yeah, you’ll see analysts throw around price targets that are looking about a year out, so, a 12-month timeframe. That’s the usual thing. Think of it as them trying to predict where a stock (or, you know, a bond, or whatever) is heading in the next year. They’re trying to figure out what it’s really worth and where the price is likely to go.

But here’s the thing, and this is something I’ve noticed following the market for a while now: Sometimes you’ll see targets that stretch out to 18 months too. Why? I guess maybe they think it’ll take a little longer for their prediction to play out, or maybe they have a longer-term view on that particular investment. It’s not always a perfect science, is it? I remember once reading a report on a tech stock where the analyst was all gung-ho about a 24-month target! It felt like forever!

Anyway, these price targets aren’t just for stocks, either. You find them on bonds, and even those fancy-pants, complicated investment products that honestly, sometimes I don’t even understand myself! The main idea behind them all is the same, though: the analyst is trying to guesstimate the intrinsic value, you know, and how the price is likely to wiggle around inside that set time, whether it’s a year or even a little longer. And honestly, that makes sense, right? We are all trying to make the right move on investments.