PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla., Jan. 15, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Weiss Ratings, which accepts no direct or indirect compensation from rated companies, has published a data-heavy report today with “Sell” ratings (D+ or lower) on The Boeing Company (BA), Warner Brothers Discovery (WBD) and Cloudflare (NET), while documenting serious conflicts of interest that inflate the ratings issued by most Wall Street analysts.
In addition to many other factors, Boeing is rated D– due to a net loss of $9.85 billion over the last four quarters, negative equity of $8.3 billion, a $3.1 billion decline cash on hand; Warner Brothers is rated D+ largely due to sharp declines in earnings growth, revenue growth and cash inflows; while Cloudflare is rated D-, mainly thanks to EBITDA at a negative $48.7 million and a net decline in cash from investing to the tune of $1.7 billion.
Among all stocks currently rated by Weiss, 8% are “Buys,” 24% are “Holds” and 69% are “Sells.” In contrast, at year-end 2025, despite higher-than-average stock valuations, 95% of Wall Street stock ratings on S&P 500 stocks urged investors to buy or at least hold, while only 5% advised them to sell. And among stocks in the S&P 1500 as well as broader market indexes that include many higher-risk small-cap stocks, the percentages are surprisingly similar.
Dr. Martin D. Weiss, founder of Weiss Ratings commented: “Whether the market is rising or falling, investors underestimate how stock losses can be significantly magnified by conflicts of interest and bias among analysts at research firms on or off Wall Street. Moreover, inflated stock ratings have, in themselves, often been a factor behind financial bubbles and busts, deepening market declines and aggravating any economic crisis.”
In its report issued today, “How Wall Street Ratings Help Cause Historic Investor Losses,” Weiss documents how most stock ratings have historically magnified investor losses during market declines since 2000:
The Dot-Com Bust of 2000-2003. A survey of research analysts conducted prior to the decline revealed that only a very small percentage of Wall Street analysts issued “Sell” ratings on internet and other tech stocks. Nearly all were rated “Buy” or at least “Hold.”
The Great Financial Crisis of 2008. Between Oct. 9, 2007, and March 9, 2009, the S&P 500 fell 55%. At the same time, 41 blue-chips stocks fell by 90% or more. However, on average, only one out of 15 analysts warned investors about these big losers with a “Sell” rating. Most urged investors to buy precisely at the worst time, and many did not change their opinion even as the stocks fell.
For example, Citigroup (C) fell 97.6% during that period but received “Sell” ratings from only 9% of analysts. Bank of America (BAC) fell 92.2%, receiving “Sell” ratings from fewer than 4% of analysts, and American International Group (AIG) fell 99.5%, but not a single analyst gave it a “Sell.”
Post-Covid Stock Decline of 2022. The S&P 500 Index began another significant decline on Jan. 3, 2022, and continued its descent through Oct. 12, down 24.4% from peak to trough. During that period, 44 blue-chip stocks fell by 70% or more, but only one in 27 analysts warned investors with a “Sell.”
To view or download the full report, investors can go here. All Weiss stock ratings are available to investors at https://weissratings.com/en/stocks.
About Weiss Stock Ratings: Weiss Ratings assigns ratings from A+ to F to over 11,000 stocks, and since its founding in 1971, has never accepted any form of payment from rated entities for its ratings.
Among 168 stocks first upgraded by Weiss to a “Buy” in 2003 and 2004 and never downgraded to a “Sell,” all have gained at least 1,000% and as much as 173,362% through Dec. 31, 2025. Considering all stock ratings provided to investors between April 2003 and year-end 2025, Weiss has issued “Buy” and subsequent “Sell” ratings that could have been used to generate 13,237 trades with an average gain of 305%, including losers.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the Weiss stock ratings were ranked #1 in profit performance, surpassing the performance of Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs and all stock research firms covered. Separately, the SEC sponsored a study by Bank of New York’s Jaywalk to determine which independent research firms provided the most accurate ratings, and among all firms included in the study, Weiss Ratings ranked #1 in profit performance on the largest number of stocks. Barron’s wrote that Weiss Ratings is “the leader in identifying vulnerable companies.” And Forbes called Founder Dr. Weiss “Mr. Independence.”
For media inquiries contact Nicole Brown 561-291-9625 nbrown@weissinc.com
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