Fuchs: Where is the sell rating mentioned?

TheStreet.com’s Marek Fuchs wants to know why all of the coverage about Gap Inc. — whose stock shot up this week after CNBC reported it was up for sale — hasn’t mentioned that the investment banker it hired has an analyst who recommends investors sell the stock.

Fuchs wrote, “Readers know that The Business Press Maven is never an apologist for Wall Street. Quite the opposite; as a critic, I rank as an enthusiast.

“One of the most useless aspects of Wall Street research on the whole is the lack of sell ratings. Even when a company has no decipherable strategy, has made gross miscalculations for years and probably will attract only will-nilly acquisition interest in an era when even a partially torn piece of moldy bread could fetch top dollar, the stock will be rated a hold.

“Here: a sell. But more: The rare sell comes from the company that has been hired to, uh, sell it. Is this evidence of the vaunted Chinese wall between research and investment banking, that important separation of church and state that will do investors more good in the long run but historically has been an illusion?

“Well, in this one case, certainly yes. And it bears mentioning by the business media — not to mention watching by investors, to determine whether it’s fluke or trend.”

Read more here.