SEASONED EQUITY ISSUERS’ R&D INVESTMENTS: SIGNALING OR OVEROPTIMISM

It is well known that investors often react negatively to the announcements of seasoned equity offerings (SEOs). We posit that issuers can use positive discretionary (higher than expected) R&D investments before the SEO to signal their investment prospects to mitigate the negative announcement effect. Alternatively, positive discretionary R&D may be attributed to managerial overoptimism about future returns of R&D investments. We find strong support for the signaling hypothesis among high‐tech issuers: investors respond more favorably to the SEO announcements of high‐tech issuers with positive discretionary R&D; these issuers are more likely to use new capital in future R&D and they produce better post‐SEO operating performance. In contrast, we find some evidence of managerial overoptimism among low‐tech issuers: investors tend to penalize low‐tech firms with positive discretionary R&D at SEO announcements; they are more likely to hold new capital as cash and they fail to produce better post‐SEO operating performance.     

Do geographically nearby major customers mitigate suppliers’ stock price crash risk?

This study examines the impact of geographically nearby major customers on suppliers' stock price crash risk. Using a sample of Chinese A-share listed firms and their top five (major) customers during the period 2008–2019, we find a significantly negative association. This association is robust in a series of robustness checks, including the use of instrumental variables estimations, propensity score matching procedure, and Heckman two-step sample selection model. The mitigating effect of supplier?customer proximity on crash risk is more pronounced for suppliers with lower corporate transparency and greater operational uncertainty. Finally, we identify two possible mechanisms through which geographically nearby major customers reduce suppliers’ crash risk: fewer financial restatements and higher accounting conservatism of suppliers. The findings of this study indicate that listed firms may choose geographically nearby customers to reduce crash risk.     

Does online interaction between firms and investors reduce stock price crash risk?

This paper examines how online interaction between firm management and investors impacts stock price crash risk. Based on the previous literature, we postulate that online interaction constrains crash risk via two channels, i.e., deterring bad news hoarding activities of managers and decreasing differences of opinion among investors. Relying on the launch of Hudongyi (the first official investor relations management platform in the world) for identification, we demonstrate that online firm-investor interaction significantly reduces future stock price crash risk and that these two channels can both explain this effect. Overall, our findings highlight the important role of online interaction in risk management.     

Does corporate diversification exacerbate or mitigate earnings management?: An empirical analysis

The purpose of this study is to determine whether earning management is exacerbated or alleviated in diversified firms. An explicit distinction is made between industrial and geographic diversification. The empirical evidence shows that earnings management is mitigated by 1.8% in industrially diversified firms. The evidence also shows that a combination of industrial and global diversification helps alleviate earnings management by 2.5%. Global diversification alone, however, does not appear to impact earnings management. We argue that diversified firms derive their cash flows from disparate business divisions. The accruals generated by these business divisions are imperfectly correlated and, hence, tend to offset each other at the entire firm's level, making it difficult for managers to manage earnings considerably in either direction. Finally, our results show that diversified firms do not suffer more severe informational asymmetry, which may explain why earnings management does not occur to a greater extent in diversified firms.     

董事高管责任保险能否抑制股价崩盘风险——基于中国A股上市公司的经验数据

股价崩盘严重损害投资者利益并阻碍股票市场健康发展,因此,探寻抑制股价崩盘风险的手段成为当前公司治理与企业财务领域关注的热点问题。使用2009~2013年我国 A 股上市公司数据为样本,实证检验董事高管责任保险与公司股价崩盘风险之间的关系。研究发现：上市公司购买董事高管责任保险能有效监督与约束高管利己行为,进而降低股价崩盘风险。该结论有助于深入了解董事高管责任保险,同时也为监管部门遏制股价崩盘现象提供了新的思路。     

Information disclosure,CEO overconfidence,and share buyback completion rates

An open market share buyback is not a firm commitment, and there is limited evidence on whether firms repurchase the intended shares. Unlike US studies, we use data from unique UK regulatory and disclosure environment that allows to accurately measure the share buyback completion rates. We show that information disclosure and CEO overconfidence are significant determinants of the share buyback completion rate. In addition, we find that large and widely held firms that conduct subsequent buyback programs and have a past buyback completion reputation exhibit higher completion rates. Finally, we assess whether other CEO characteristics affect buyback completion rates and find that firms with senior CEOs who hold external directorships and have a longer tenure as CEO are more likely to complete the buyback programs. In sum, our results suggest there is a clear relationship between information disclosure, CEO overconfidence, and buyback completion rates.     

WHAT DETERMINES SEO OFFER‐DAY RETURNS?

We examine seasoned equity offering (SEO) initial‐day returns after controlling for the dilution effect from the SEO discount and new shares offered. Contrary to the existing literature that ignores the effect of dilution, we find that initial‐day returns are not consistently positive. Modeling adjusted initial‐day returns, we show that dilution‐adjusted initial‐day returns respond to partial price adjustments reflecting both private and public information. Additional determinants of SEO offer‐day returns include lockup length, discount reversal, prior operating performance, and underwriter reputation. Long‐run tests reveal that adjusted initial‐day returns are not predictive of postissuance long‐term performance.     

货币政策、流动性不足与个股暴跌风险

本文以2004-2012年中国A股上市公司为研究样本,研究货币政策是否影响个股暴跌风险,以及基金和个股流动性不足对货币政策效果的影响。研究结果表明:(1)货币政策紧缩会显著增加个股的暴跌风险;(2)基金流动性不足和个股流动性不足会显著增加紧缩货币政策对股价暴跌风险的影响;(3)其他机构投资者能够缓解紧缩货币政策以及基金流动性不足对股价暴跌风险的影响。本文丰富了股价暴跌风险研究,同时对于货币政策制定及流动性管理有一定的现实意义。     

企业过度投资与股价崩盘风险

实体经济的过热投资是否会导致股市出现“泡沫”进而引发股市的暴跌风险是当前学术界和实务界关注的一个焦点问题。本文以2004-2013年A股上市公司为样本,从微观层面考察企业过度投资对股价崩盘风险的影响,并从“代理理论”和“管理者过度自信”两种视角分析其背后的作用机理。研究结果表明:(1)企业过度投资显著加剧了股价未来的崩盘风险;(2)股东与经理人之间的代理冲突而非管理者过度自信是导致二者正相关的主要原因;(3)进一步的研究发现,企业过度投资对未来股价崩盘风险的影响具有长期性,且其对股价未来的暴涨不具有预测能力。本文的研究结论不仅丰富了股价崩盘风险、过度投资等相关领域的文献,对于如何抑制实体经济投资过热以降低股价崩盘风险、维护金融市场稳定也具有重要的参考价值。     

FOUNDING FAMILY OWNERSHIP AND CASH HOLDINGS

I investigate the relation between founding family ownership and firm cash holdings. I find that cash holdings are significantly lower at family firms than nonfamily firms. I also examine the marginal value of cash and report a smaller value of cash for family firms. Combined, the findings are consistent with the spending hypothesis that family firms tend to deploy cash quickly and the market discounts the quality of their spending.     

Founder CEO management and the long-run investment performance of IPO firms

This study provides a comparative analysis of the long-run investment performance of founder and non-founder CEO led IPO firms in high and low technology environments. We find weak evidence of superior long-run investment performance on the part of founder CEO led IPO firms, since the significance of the results are sensitive to choice of benchmark, portfolio weighting method, and factor regression model. However, in the context of high technology IPO firms, we find consistent evidence to indicate that founder CEO led firms provide significantly higher long-run returns relative to non-founder CEO led firms. Our results suggest that the unique nature of founder CEO leadership is particularly beneficial to IPO firms in high technology environments.