It seems so easy to pump a stock these days.  I am not going to accuse anyone, but I find it a little obvious that all someone needs to do to move a stock higher is to publish a “wish list” of potential targets for private equity firms and sneak your preferred name onto it.  As I have written in the past, I am never impressed by analysts that put out speculative crap for one bandwagon or another.  I don’t like it when a whole sector is bid up if one company happens to be acquired by another public company.  But these days, that isn’t happening as much so the same group of analysts are now directing their “research” at the flavor of the day, private equity deals.   I know I cannot stop anyone from speculating, but it’s just not the way to find good investments.  If investors decide to buy Barnes & Noble because CNBC says they are a target for going private, I don’t hold out much hope for positive returns in their portfolios.