证券分析师VS统计模型:证券分析师盈余预测的相对准确性及其决定因素

本文使用2005年35家券商对我国上市公司做出的每股盈余预测数据,考察了证券分析师盈余预测相对于统计模型的相对准确性及其决定因素。我们发现,我国证券分析师做出的盈余预测,同以年度历史数据为基础的统计模型得出的盈余预测相比,预测误差较小,证券分析师盈余预测具有一定的优势;但同某些以季度历史数据为基础的统计模型得出的盈余预测相比,预测误差较大,证券分析师盈余预测不具有优势。我们同时考察了决定证券分析师盈余预测相对准确性的决定因素。我们发现,公司每股盈余的波动性越大,公司上市越晚,跟踪公司的分析师越多,证券分析师的优势就越大。我们的研究对证券分析师以及投资者都有一定的启示作用。     

盈余质量、制度环境与分析师预测

本文通过研究2003-2007年证券分析师对我国上市公司盈余预测的特征，发现公司财务报告中的盈余信息质量对分析师预测表现具有显著的影响。结果表明，公司盈余质量越高，分析师预测越准确，分歧度越小。研究还发现，宏观制度环境对分析师盈余预测同样有显著的正面影响。上市公司所处地区的制度环境越好，分析师盈余预测的准确度越高，分歧度越小。同时，完善的制度环境在一定程度上能够削弱盈余信息质量对于分析师预测表现的影响。本文的结论对于加强上市公司财务信息监督和健全宏观制度环境具有参考价值。     

年报风险信息披露有助于提高分析师预测准确度吗?

年报风险信息披露既可能提高信息质量而对分析师预测行为产生积极影响,又可能因增加分析师的风险感知而对分析师预测行为产生消极影响。本文通过文本分析法量化年报风险信息披露,进而探讨其对分析师预测准确度的影响。基于公司层面的证据表明:风险信息披露频率越高,分析师预测准确度越高,而且这种积极影响主要体现在非国有企业、盈余质量较高及公司治理较好组。基于分析师层面的证据表明:风险信息披露频率越高,分析师预测准确度越高,这种积极影响主要体现在非明星、行业专长较低、对公司追踪时间较少的分析师中。这说明我国年报风险信息异质性较弱,有助于提高分析师预测准确度,从而支持了风险信息披露的信息观。本文结论有助于丰富信息披露以及分析师预测文献。     

前瞻性信息披露对盈余预测准确度的影响研究

上市公司信息披露能够为投资者提供更多前瞻性信息，是投资者进行决策的重要信息来源。证券分析师作为资本市场的信息中介，对缓解信息不对称具有重要的作用。为厘清上市公司前瞻性信息披露能否影响分析师盈余预测的准确度，以2007—2020年A股上市公司为样本，研究前瞻性信息披露对分析师盈余预测准确度的影响。研究结果显示，上市公司前瞻性信息能够显著提高分析师盈余预测准确度。进一步研究发现，融资约束低、机构持股比例高、年报可读性高和股价同步性高的上市公司，前瞻性信息披露对分析师盈余预测准确度的提升效果更为明显。研究结论从前瞻性信息的信息含量视角丰富了分析师盈余预测准确度的相关研究，为全面注册制背景下进一步健全资本市场信息披露制度提供了政策参考。     

我国证券分析师特征与预测准度之间的经验分析

基于2002—2009年的大样本证券分析师公司年盈余预测数据,使用相对预测分析方法,在控制了其他预测影响因素之后,发现我国证券分析师特征显著影响他们的盈余预测准度。具体而言,我国证券分析师跟进公司的时间越长就越有经验,盈余预测就会越准;证券分析师跟进的公司数目越多和行业数目越多,预测研究的组合任务就越复杂,就不能有效发挥专业化优势,盈余预测就会越不准。不过,与假设预期不一致的是,我国证券分析师所在的研究机构规模越大,并没有发挥像国外大型研究机构所具有的资源优势,证券分析师盈余预测反倒越不准确。     

股市传闻对证券分析师预测行为的影响研究

股市传闻作为一类未经证实但却得以传播的信息,对于资本市场健康平稳运行产生不利影响。本文聚焦于证券分析师这一重要资本市场信息中介视角,系统考察了目标公司股市传闻情况对于分析师预测行为所产生的具体影响及其内在机理,研究发现上市公司发生传闻会降低分析师对其盈余预测的准确度,且发生传闻次数越多,分析师盈余预测准确度越低。影响机制检验表明股市传闻主要通过增加信息筛选难度以及分散注意力的方式来负面影响分析师预测精度。相较利好传闻而言,利空传闻对分析师盈余预测准确度的负面影响更明显。本文不仅拓展了股市传闻所引致经济后果以及分析师预测行为影响因素的相关研究文献与考察视角,也为切实管控中国股市传闻以促进资本市场高质量发展提供了有益借鉴。     

卖空机制与分析师乐观性偏差——基于双重差分模型的检验

本文主要研究卖空机制对分析师乐观性偏差的影响。基于我国开通融资融券交易的自然实验构建双重差分模型(DID),检验发现:对于融资融券标的公司,引入卖空机制显著降低了分析师盈余预测的乐观性偏差,并提高了盈余预测的准确度;当机构私利引起的利益冲突较轻时,卖空机制对分析师乐观性偏差的抑制作用更为明显。本文研究结果表明,资本市场交易制度的完善促使财务分析师提供更准确的预测信息,进而有助于提高资本市场效率。     

内部控制质量影响了分析师行为吗?——来自中国证券市场的经验证据

本文以2007-2016年A股上市公司为样本,从分析师跟踪、盈余预测精确度和分歧度三个方面考察了内控质量对分析师行为的影响。研究结果表明,内控质量越高的公司能够吸引更多的分析师跟随;内控质量更高的公司分析师的盈余预测也显著更为准确,不过上述经验关系只存在于高估实际盈余的样本组中;没有明显的证据表明内控质量影响了分析师预测分歧度。本文在拓展内部控制经济后果研究和分析师决策过程研究的同时,研究结论也对当前的市场监管具有一定的政策启示意义。     

连锁股东与分析师盈余预测

基于逐渐普遍的连锁股东现象,学术界对其发挥的效应是协同治理还是竞争合谋的讨论也越发激烈。本文从分析师盈余预测视角考察连锁股东如何影响分析师预测行为。研究发现,连锁股东能提高分析师盈余预测质量,降低预测偏差,减少分析师之间的预测分歧度。机制检验发现,连锁股东通过发挥协同效应和治理效应提高分析师预测质量。进一步分析发现,连锁股东的协同治理具有行业效应,因连锁股东形成的同行业企业群越大,连锁股东对分析师盈余预测影响越强;考察主体异质性发现,外资和机构型连锁股东对分析师预测质量的促进作用更强,且连锁股东更能提高低能力分析师的预测质量。本研究从外部信息中介角度丰富了连锁股东的经济影响,提供了通过完善微观企业股东治理改善资本市场运行效率的理论依据。     

超预期股本扩张与分析师每股盈余预测

卖方分析师的每股盈余预测在实证文献中被广泛使用。该指标同时依赖于分析师对目标公司未来净利润的预测和对目标公司未来股本数量的预测。因此,如果在分析师发布预测后,目标公司的股本数量发生超出分析师预期的扩张,则每股盈余预测将无法代表分析师对目标公司未来基本面的预测。本文构建了“调整后每股盈余预测”指标,该指标可剔除超预期股本扩张对每股盈余预测的影响,真实反映分析师对目标公司未来基本面的预测。本文应用该指标,在两个具体的实证研究场景中证明了,忽略超预期股本扩张的影响可能得出错误的实证结论。本文还进一步指出了三个忽略超预期股本扩张的影响可能导致错误实证结果的研究场景。     

Determinants of analysts’ revenue forecast accuracy

This study investigates financial analysts’ revenue forecasts and identifies determinants of the forecasts’ accuracy. We find that revenue forecast accuracy is determined by forecast and analyst characteristics similar to those of earnings forecast accuracy—namely, forecast horizon, days elapsed since the last forecast, analysts’ forecasting experience, forecast frequency, forecast portfolio, reputation, earnings forecast issuance, forecast boldness, and analysts’ prior performance in forecasting revenues and earnings. We develop a model that predicts the usefulness of revenue forecasts. Thereby, our study helps to ex ante identify more accurate revenue forecasts. Furthermore, we find that analysts concern themselves with their revenue forecasting performance. Analysts with poor revenue forecasting performance are more likely to stop forecasting revenues than analysts with better performance. Their decision is reasonable because revenue forecast accuracy affects analysts’ career prospects in terms of being promoted or terminated. Our study helps investors and academic researchers to understand determinants of revenue forecasts. This understanding is also beneficial for evaluating earnings forecasts because revenue forecasts reveal whether changes in earnings forecasts are due to anticipated changes in revenues or expenses.     

上市公司信息披露质量与证券分析师盈利预测

本文研究了上市公司信息披露状况与分析师预测行为之间的关系，结果发现，分析师的预测准确性总体上显著优于随机游走模型。进一步的研究发现，上市公司信息披露状况会对证券分析师的预测特征产生影响，信息披露透明度越高，分析师预测对会计盈利数据的依赖程度越低，预测准确性也随之提高。     

Do Analysts Disclose Cash Flow Forecasts with Earnings Estimates when Earnings Quality is Low?

Cash flows are incrementally useful to earnings in security valuation mainly when earnings quality is low. This suggests that when earnings quality decreases, analysts will be more likely to supplement their earnings forecasts with cash flow estimates. Contrary to this prediction, we find that analysts do not disclose cash flow forecasts when the quality of earnings is low. This is because cash flow forecast accuracy depends on the accuracy of the accrual estimates and the precision of accrual forecasts decreases for firms with low quality earnings. Consequently, as earnings quality decreases, cash flow forecasts become increasingly inaccurate compared to earnings estimates. Cash flow estimates that lack reliability are not useful to investors and, consequently, unlikely to be reported by analysts. This result provides an explanation for why analysts are less likely to report cash flow estimates when earnings quality is low.     

An Examination of the Differential Impact of Regulation FD on Analysts' Forecast Accuracy

Regulation fair disclosure (FD) requires companies to publicly disseminate information, effectively preventing the selective pre‐earnings announcement guidance to analysts common in the past. We investigate the effects of Regulation FD's reducing information disparity across analysts on their forecast accuracy. Proxies for private information, including brokerage size and analyst company‐specific experience, lose their explanatory power for analysts' relative accuracy after Regulation FD. Analyst forecast accuracy declines overall, but analysts that are relatively less accurate (more accurate) before Regulation FD improve (deteriorate) after implementation. Our findings are consistent with selective guidance partially explaining variation in the forecasting accuracy of analysts before Regulation FD.     

Analysts' forecasts of Japanese firms' earnings: additional evidence

This article examines analysts' forecasts of Japanese firms' earnings during Japan's economic burst period in the 1990s. Using the evidence of analyst earnings forecasts in the United States as a benchmark, the article documents the following three findings. First, whereas the forecast accuracy of U.S. analysts following U.S. firms improves over time, the forecast accuracy of U.S. and Japanese analysts following Japanese firms does not. Second, whereas decreases in forecast errors of U.S. analysts following U.S. firms are best explained by decreases in forecast bias of the analysts, increases in forecast errors of U.S. and Japanese analysts following Japanese firms are best explained by increases in the frequency of losses experienced by Japanese firms. Third, Japanese analysts forecast earnings less accurately than do U.S. analysts. These findings reflect the difficulty of producing accurate earnings forecasts during economic downturns. They also suggest that Japanese analysts are more bound than their U.S. counterparts by cultural ties that impede forecast accuracy.     

Tests of Market Reaction and Analysts' Forecast Revisions to the Disclosure of Improved Management Earnings Expectations: A Case of Concurrent Bad News Management Earnings Forecasts

This paper tests whether a negative stock market reaction, associated with a management forecast of near term bad earnings, is lessened by a concurrent management forecast of improved longer term earnings expectations. Stock market reactions depend on the creditability of management forecasts of improved earnings expectations. In this analysis, the authors examined market reactions around the time of management forecasts of bad earnings, with and without longer-term management forecasts of improved earnings expectations. The results show that the stock market reaction is significantly less negative when management forecasts of bad earnings are followed by management forecasts of improved long run earnings expectations than when management forecasts of bad earnings are not accompanied by management forecasts of improved earnings expectations. In addition, this paper examines financial analysts' reactions to management bad earnings forecasts and management forecasts of improved earnings expectations. The findings show that analysts react less negatively to management forecasts of improved earnings expectations than to management forecasts of bad earnings. An analysis of a sub-sample of observations shows that analysts consider management forecasts of improved earnings expectations to imply improved expected future performance, thus conveying that analysts give credence to management forecasts of improved earnings expectations. However, results show that the stock market and analysts are unable to distinguish management forecasts of improved earnings expectations that come true from management forecasts of improved earning expectations that do not come true.     

Product market pricing power, industry concentration and analysts’ earnings forecasts

This is the first study to establish a link between product market power and analysts’ earnings forecast accuracy and bias. Relating two different dimensions of market power to earnings forecastability, we document that (a) a firm’s relative pricing power and (b) its industry concentration are strong positive determinants of analysts’ earnings forecast accuracy. We find that forecasting earnings of higher market power firms is less complex due to their ability to withstand cost shocks as well as greater informational-efficiency enjoyed by such firms. Further, forecast optimism increases with weakening product market pricing power and with lower industry concentration. The knowledge derived from this study will hopefully improve the accuracy of equity valuation, and thereby engender better buy-side (stock selections) and sell-side recommendations by analysts. Our analysis also suggests that brokerage firms compensating analysts based on forecast accuracy need to adjust for the differential in the information complexity of different industries.     

其他综合收益、分析师预测与决策价值

其他综合收益作为“脏盈余”的回收站,是否对信息使用者具有决策价值是困扰准则制定者的重要学术问题,从资本市场最专业的财务报表使用者——证券分析师视角出发,研究其他综合收益对分析师盈余预测的影响,检验分析师是否能够有效识别利用其他综合收益信息.研究结果表明:其他综合收益信息对分析师盈余预测准确性有显著影响,即其他综合收益比重高的企业,分析师盈余误差的分歧越大;其他综合收益强制披露后分析师解读成本减低,盈余预测准确性得以提高.结论支持现阶段其他综合收益信息在分析师利预测中的作用,间接证明其他综合收益的决策价值.     

Do investors affect financial analysts’ behavior? Evidence from short sellers

We examine how short sellers affect financial analysts’ forecast behavior using a natural experiment that relaxes short-sale constraints. We find that increased ease of short selling improves analyst earnings forecast quality by reducing forecast bias and increasing forecast accuracy. The improvements can be explained by both the disciplining pressure from short sellers and increased price efficiency from incorporating information in a timely manner. Although it is well documented that financial analysts can affect investors, our paper provides novel evidence on how sophisticated investors, short sellers, can affect analysts.     

Analyst information production and the timing of annual earnings forecasts

We investigate whether the reputation-herding theory or the tradeoff theory explains variation in the timing of individual analysts’ forecasts. Using forecast accuracy improvements, forecast boldness, and the price impact of forecasts as measures of forecast quality, we find that in the information discovery phase that precedes an earnings announcement, earlier forecasts have higher quality than later forecasts. We also find a similar pattern in the information analysis phase that begins with the earnings announcement date. Our findings suggest that consistent with the herding theory, analysts who are more capable participate early in discovering and analyzing information, and therefore earlier forecasts in the information discovery and analysis phases are of higher quality than later forecasts in that phase.