| Abstract: | We relate the performance of mutual fund trades to their motivation.A fund manager who buys stocks when there are heavy investoroutflows is likely to be motivated by the belief that the stocksare significantly undervalued. In contrast, when there are heavyinflows, the manager is likely to be motivated to work off excessliquidity by buying stocks. Our analysis reveals that managersmaking purely valuation-motivated purchases substantially beatthe market but are unable to do so when compelled to investexcess cash from investor inflows. A similar, but weaker, patternis found for stocks that are sold. (JEL G11, G29) |
