Be more specific in your definition of 'business analyst'. It seems your referring to those in Finance?
Its probably easier for you to go to a job site and look at the duties of a business analyst rather then have people type it out here. In IT, they are pretty valuable if they are good. Keyword: Good.
Whom do you consider valuable to a company? Your comments pretty much shoot down professional services jobs such as Consultants and Auditing etc. if you think business analysts provide no value. Just like any other job their will be useless ones and good ones.