STOCK PRICE REACTIONS TO DIVIDEND AND EARNINGS ANNOUNCEMENTS: CONTEMPORANEOUS VERSUS NONCONTEMPORANEOUS ANNOUNCEMENTS

In this paper we examine stock price reactions to contemporaneous and noncontemporaneous dividend and earnings announcements. Overall, the stock price reaction to joint announcements is significantly greater than the reaction to just one signal. This implies that there is information content to two signals being given simultaneously, and that announcements are not perfect substitutes. Some evidence shows that the reaction to a joint announcement is approximately twice that to a noncontemporaneous announcement. On average, the stock price reaction to joint contradictory announcements is not significant. Finally, for joint announcements where only one of the two announcements is expected to affect the stock price significantly, the market reaction is determined by the nonzero signal.     

EARNINGS ANNOUNCEMENTS,QUALITY AND QUANTITY OF INFORMATION,AND STOCK PRICE CHANGES

We analyze the informational effect of earnings announcements on stock price changes. Although prior studies postulate that the direction and magnitude of earnings surprises contribute to abnormal stock price changes, we attribute earnings surprises and subsequent stock price changes to the quality and quantity of available information. If a stock is followed by many financial analysts, the amount of information available to investors contributes to higher quality information, which in turn is reflected by a small earnings surprise. Furthermore, we demonstrate that as the quality and quantity of information increase, stock prices adjust more quickly, which sheds additional light on the post-earnings-announcement drift issue. Finally, cross-sectional analysis reveals that the flow of information, as measured by the rate of trading volume changes, and the stock of information, as measured by the number of financial analysts, contributes significantly to the variations in excess returns and return volatility. Traditional variables, such as earnings surprises, earnings reporting lag, and firm size, do not perform well.     

THE TIMELINESS OF HALF YEARLY EARNINGS ANNOUNCEMENTS AND STOCK RETURNS

This paper examines the association between the timeliness of the half-yearly report for Australian firms and the abnormal stock price behaviour around the time of the announcement. The results support the overseas evidence that reports containing ‘good’ news are released earlier than reports containing ‘bad’ news. The abnormal returns are consistent with the direction and magnitude of the earnings and dividend information. We find no evidence to support the Kross and Schroeder [1984] conclusion that timeliness per se is associated with abnormal returns once appropriate control is made for earnings/dividend information.     

EARNINGS FORECAST REVISIONS ASSOCIATED WITH STOCK SPLIT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Recent studies document abnormal stock returns at stock split announcements. Three hypotheses related to expected future earnings—the trading range, attention, and signaling hypotheses—have been offered as explanations. Evidence has also been provided that splitting firms have greater postannouncement earnings growth than control nonsplitting firms. Using earnings expectation data from the Institutional Brokers Estimate System, significantly greater forecast revisions are found in this study for split firms than for control nonsplit firms. The difference is significantly related to abnormal stock returns of splitting firms.     

STOCK PRICE BEHAVIOR OF PURE CAPITAL STRUCTURE ISSUANCE AND CANCELLATION ANNOUNCEMENTS

I examine planned senior-for-junior and junior-for-senior transactions that are subsequently canceled. I find statistically significant stock returns for issuance and cancellation announcements that are positively related to the direction of the leverage change. The magnitude and direction of the returns differ from previous research. Discrepancies are attributed to different issuance purposes.     

AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION OF STOCK DIVIDENDS-IN-KIND

We investigate share price reactions to announcements of dividends payable in the common stock of corporations different from the issuing firm. We find that firms that declare these dividends (typically investment companies) experience positive abnormal returns upon announcement. We also find that such dividends are more likely to be declared when the shares to be distributed have peaked in value. Consistent with this finding, we document negative announcement-period abnormal returns for firms having their shares distributed. Additional tests reveal that prices respond more negatively when the information signal is strongest, when outside ownership is more dispersed, and when management is more entrenched.     

CHANGES IN THE STOCK PRICE REACTION OF SMALL FIRMS TO COMMON INFORMATION

We hypothesize that changes in the technological and regulatory environment result in a more rapid response to marketwide information by small firms. We find that the correlations between small-firm returns and lagged large-firm returns decline over time, which suggests an increase in the efficiency of capital markets. Similar lead-lag patterns are found in the returns of portfolios sorted by dollar trading volume. The price response of low-volume stocks improves over time in much the same way as that of small-capitalization stocks.