Maybe I'm missing something; but, although it's perfectly fine for them to disagree internally, it does not seem proper for one commercial financial advisory service to put out simultaneously conflicting opinions: particularly where money is on the line (and mainstream reporters tend to latch to one of the suggestions only). Makes them look rather incompetent as a branded entity promoting sound objective advice. It would be like the surgeon general's office putting out conflicting reports on whether a certain pill causes heart attacks: one sub group wrote a report that it does, the other it did not. Both memos are circulated to the public, while a journalist will likely report one side to the public at large. Would you put your health on the line with that kind of advice? I would hope people don't do the same with money.
I've noticed from reading a lot of their research in the oil and energy patch that they make a lot of what I would call "relative" calls . . . Such as neutral to underweight on COAL while bullish to overweight on NAT-GAS. Then, 2-months later there is a change towards more "oilier" names and away from nat-gas. I really don't believe in the conspiracy theories at all. These analysts are simply trying to PERFORM so that they can secure a nice big fat year-end bonus. Nothing more, nothing less.