Investors often turn to recommendations made by Wall Street analysts before making a Buy, Sell, or Hold decision about a stock. While media reports about rating changes by these brokerage-firm employed (or sell-side) analysts often affect a stock's price, do they really matter? Let's take a look at what these Wall Street heavyweights have to say about Berkshire Hathaway B ( BRK.B - Free Report ) before we discuss the reliability of brokerage recommendations and how to use them to your advantage. Berkshire Hathaway B currently has an average brokerage recommendation (ABR) of 1.67, on a scale of 1 to 5 (Strong Buy to Strong Sell), calculated based on the actual recommendations (Buy, Hold, Sell, etc.) made by three brokerage firms. An ABR of 1.67 approximates between Strong Buy and Buy. Of the three recommendations that derive the current ABR, two are Strong Buy, representing 66.7% of all recommendations.