Analysts are often times the lynchpin between a company and their investors. They are more commonly known as corporate finance professionals, and they play an important role in helping to manage a company’s finances. Analysts can also be used to help guide decisions such as whether or not it is profitable to expand a business or have the balance sheet strengthened. So in this capacity, analysts take on various roles: They may be used to forecast analyst target prices (the price at which the share is expected to trade after a given period of time). When this target should be met changes based on how much progress has been made towards reaching that goal.