Final answer:
An analyst using past stock pricing cycles for investment decisions assumes the market is not weak-form efficient, as this stands contrary to the Efficient Market Hypothesis that all past information is reflected in stock prices. Instead, this method aligns more with technical analysis, which the random walk theory disputes.
Step-by-step explanation:
An analyst who relies upon past cycles of stock pricing to make investment decisions is assuming that the market is not weak-form efficient. This is because the weak form of the Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) suggests that all past trading information is already reflected in the stock prices and thus cannot be used to gain future profits. On the contrary, the belief that past price movements or patterns can be used to predict future price movements is central to technical analysis, which contrasts with the random walk theory where stock prices are equally likely to rise or fall, making them unpredictable on a day-to-day basis.
Fundamental analysis, another approach, involves analyzing company financials and economic factors to predict stock performance, which also differs from the approach of relying on price patterns and trends.