Investors large and small look to stock analysts when weighing up the potential fortunes of any investment.

Buy, sell or hold, the assessment of a trusted name can also determine the trajectory of a companies' share price, for better and for worse.

While a growing number of DIY investors are embracing their own analysis or crowdsourcing investment ideas from online communities, there's no doubt analysts still play a crucial role in the stock market ecosystem.

But just how often do they get it right? Fresh analysis from TipRanks demonstrates that the analyst you decide to put your faith in can make a colossal difference to returns.

The platform, which provides stock research tools to individuals and major banks and brokers, examined more than 9,000 of the top global stock analysts to reveal the UK's 'all stars' league table, of 'most accurate' forecasters.

Uri Gruenbaum co-founded TipRanks ,which is now owned by London tech group Prytek, in 2014 following an 'ill-advised' personal investment.

Three years earlier, Gruenbaum had blown his first workplace bonus following the advice of a 'well-known' tech analyst.

He was convinced to back Indian auto giant Tata, rather than high flying Tesla, which has seen its shares rise an incredible 22,200 per cent since the end of 2011. The experience led him to launch TipRanks. 

TipRanks' analysis of stock pickers considers the metrics of profitability, accuracy, frequency, success rate and average return.

Gruenbaum said: 'Our mission is to equip everyday investors with the highest levels of insights and data when it comes to their stock market journey.

'That's why sharing the UK's 'all stars' league table of analyst talent, will only help democratise share research and investing.'

Who are the UK's top analysts? 

Top of UK league table was Berenberg Bank's Sebastian Bray, who called 37 ratings accurately out of a total of 47.

Bray, who managed an average return of 8.8 per cent on his picks, was followed by his colleague Peter Richardson and RBC's Ben Bathurst.

Bathurst, who called 23 out of 32 ratings accurately, also offered the highest average return of 14.4 per cent.

The most profitable individual ranking was seized by Jeffries' Andrew Wade, whose 7 November 2023 buy rating on Naked Wines shares delivered a mammoth 127.6 per cent return by 21 May.

Naked Wines shares had fallen more than 90 per cent from their pandemic peak when Wade made the call, as customer numbers began to dwindle after the easing of lockdown conditions.

A turnaround plan under new management helped shares rally sharply - though the shares remain well below their 2021 peak of 880p having fallen back as sales continue to slide.

Buy ratings dominate the list of top calls, with the exception of a sell rating pinned on housebuilder Barratt Redrow by Gregor Kuglitsch of UBS on 7 September 2023.

The call, informed by the impact of higher interest rates, netted a gain of 30.5 per cent as the shares fell.