The information content of earnings and turnover announcements in France

Annual net income is seen by shareholders as the most important figure, since it is, for individual accounts, the basis of appropriation of profit by the shareholders' general meeting. However, firms publish interim figures at a higher frequency to allow investors to react quickly to frequently updated information that gives them a more accurate view of the evolution of the firm. In the United States, according to regulation S-X, the interim quarterly reports must disclose the net income. In France, firms must publish their quarterly turnovers and their half-year income statements in addition to their annual accounts. Whereas American publications are practically homogeneous in nature in terms of earnings disclosure, the information content of French quarterly reports differs from that of the half-year and annual accounts. Such French irregularities in information content mean that interim and annual announcements do not have the same value for the shareholders. Because of the heterogeneous nature and the time frame of the disclosed information, one may wonder if French market reactions to the announcements of interim publications exhibit significantly different characteristics from those observed for quarterly releases in other countries. This can only be appreciated through a differential analysis of French market response to interim and annual announcements.     

Earnings expectations and the relative information content of dividend and earnings announcements

Recent studies of financial analysis' earnings forecast revisions following dividend announcements suggest that dividends convey information regarding a firm's future prospects. In this study, we extend the analysis by explicitly controlling for earnings information released during the forecast revision measurement period. Our results suggest that earnings forecast revisions previously attributed to dividend announcements are driven primarily by earnings surprise. At best, dividends appear to serve a corroborative role. The authors gratefully acknowledge the contribution of I/B/E/S Inc. for providing earnings per share forecast data, available through the Institutional Brokers Estimate System.     

An empirical study on information content of accounting earnings and cash flow

Based on deep analyzing the colluding and checking relation of income statement and cash flow statement, this paper chooses and designs the corresponding profit index, carries on the comparative study of information content between accounting earnings and cash flows. The paper utilizes the financial data of Chinese listed company in manufacturing industry from 2003 to 2005, adopts the price model and analyzes empirical study about two kinds of profit indexes and value relevance. Studies have suggested： accounting earnings and cash flows all have relevant relations to stock prices; however, the relevance between cash flow and stock price is stronger, and cash flows have higher information quality.     

Options and earnings announcements: an empirical study for the European Options Exchange

In this paper we give an introduction in option pricing theory and explicitly specify the Black-Scholes model. Although market participants use this and similar models to price options, they violate one of the fundamental assumptions of the model. They do not set a constant value for the volatility of the underlying asset over time, but change the volatility even during a day. By means of event study methodology we investigate the volatility of the underlying asset and the volatility implicit in option prices around earnings announcements by firms. We find that the volatility in option prices increases before the announcement date and drops sharply afterwards. The volatility of the underlying stocks is higher only at the announcement dates and we do not observe a higher volatility around these dates. Hence, the constant volatility of the underlying asset, which is one of the assumptions in the Black-Scholes model, does not hold. However, the market seems to correctly anticipate the change in volatility, by correcting option prices.     

投资者异质性与会计盈余信息的市场反应

本文借鉴经济学和心理学最新研究成果,从信息使用者的角度,分析具有前景理论和心理账户理论描述特徵的异质投资者的非理性行为,封会计盈余信息所蕴含价值的市场反应的影响：研究发现,具有前景理论和心理账户理论描述特徵的异质投资者,会倾向于继续持有亏损的股票,并卖出赢利的股票。在这种情况下,股票价格对于新增会计盈余信息的变化,会受到投资者心理账户申对于自身所持股票赢利或亏损分类的影响,造成以股票价格变化来衡量的会计盈余信息价值含量降低。本文的研究成功地把投资者心理因素与行为偏差的影响引入会计研究领域中,为後续研究提供了新思路.     

Relative information asymmetry as a determinant of the market reaction to corporate financing announcements

Information-asymmetry-based models predict that the market should react negatively to unanticipated external financing. Previous empirical studies lend limited support to these conjectures. This study examines the anticipation issue using financial analysts' earnings-forecast errors as a proxy for information available prior to the external-financing announcement. The conjecture is that external financing would be less anticipated for firms which financial analysts cannot accurately predict their earnings. Event study results indicate that high-prediction-error firms exhibit significantly lower announcement period returns than lowprediction-error firms for non-convertible debt, convertible debt, and common stock offerings.     

Delayed price response to the announcements of earnings and its components in Finland

Several studies report that even after accounting earnings are announced, estimated cumulative unexpected returns continue to drift up for firms that report unexpectedly good earnings and down for firms that report unexpectedly bad earnings. This paper shows that because Finnish companies tend to pay more attention to tax considerations than so-called economic reality when preparing their financial reports, this drift does not exist for reported earnings, i.e. net profit based on Finnish accounting regulations. It appears, however, that several other income levels assessed by financial statement analysis are important in this respect. The results imply that firms that make extensive adjustments for tax purposes have high unexpected returns. This is explained by the fact that those firms have enough income to extensively exploit the depreciation and other earnings management possibilities.     

Capital accumulation and growth: a new look at the empirical evidence

Using annual data for 75 countries in the period 1960–2000, we present evidence of a positive relationship between investment as a share of gross domestic product (GDP) and the long‐run growth rate of GDP per worker. This result is robust for our full sample and for the subsample of non‐OECD countries, but not for the subsample of OECD countries. Our analysis controls for time‐invariant country‐specific heterogeneity in growth rates, and for a range of time‐varying control variables. We also address endogeneity issues, and allow for heterogeneity across countries in model parameters and for cross‐section dependence. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Capital market reactions to the passage of the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999

The Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999, also known as the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA), removed most of the remaining barriers between financial companies. Stock market reactions to the passage of GLBA vary across financial sectors and company size. Specifically, we find negative returns for foreign banks, thrifts and finance companies; insignificant returns for banks; and positive returns for investment banks and insurance companies. Additionally, larger nondepository firms have higher returns. The return variation reflects resolution of uncertainty surrounding the final provisions of GLBA, competitive pressures, and expectations of future business combinations. Potential gains from business combinations may arise from economies of scope, market power, and/or from an implicit extension of government guarantees to banking affiliates.     

The impact of disclosure on the market response to reported earnings

There is a wealth of evidence of a certain delay in the market's adjustment to published earnings information. However, there is a shortage of studies focusing on whether this behaviour can be explained at least partially by the level and quality of disclosures released together with earnings. This paper explores whether the degree of disclosure is related to the market reaction, and in particular whether the quantity and quality of disclosure affects the adjustment of security prices to interim earnings announcements. Evidence on the pricing of disclosures is also presented. The data comprises interim reports submitted to the Helsinki Exchanges in the period 1985–93. Interim reports are used because they relate to a specific event conveying new and previously unpublished material to the market, in contrast to annual reports which primarily document the history of the previous year. It is found that both disclosure and earnings are important in explaining drift, and our results indicate that the drift is associated with disclosure. These results augment the non-US market evidence of this drift.     

An empirical analysis of market and institutional mechanisms for alleviating information asymmetry in the municipal bond market

This article examines how various market and institutional mechanisms resolve information asymmetry problems in the municipal bond market in the U.S. Information asymmetry exists in this market since a significant percentage of the investors are individuals on one side and many of the issuers are infrequent and relatively small ones on the other side. Using a two-stage switching regression model, we find that these mechanisms, including self-certification, method of sale, underwriter certification, and underlying credit ratings for insured municipal bonds, all help resolve information asymmetry problems and thus reduce borrowing cost for the issuers. (JEL G14)     

The informational content of credit rating announcements for share prices in a small market

The informational value of credit ratings is a subject of continuing debate. This research examines whether reaction to small market credit rating announcements is different from large markets, due to limited information, liquidity premia, and analyst neglect factors. Unlike U.S. and Australian studies that find a significant reaction to only bad news, a significant positive reaction to both positive placements and upgrades is found in the New Zealand market. Further, significant market reaction largely accrues to firms not cross-listed in U.S. markets. This evidence suggests credit rating agencies act as substitute information providers for firms followed by relatively few analysts. A substantial portion of this research was completed while author Meyer was affiliated with Massey University, Albany Campus, Auckland, New Zealand.     

Asymmetric information and deal selection: evidence from the Italian venture capital market

International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal - The aim of this study is to show how information asymmetry affects the venture capital (VC) deal selection process in the Italian capital...     

The relationship between accounting numbers and returns: some empirical evidence from the emerging market of the Czech Republic

Generally, stock prices reflect future expectations of earnings, whereas accounting data reflect past performance. This paper attempts to discover the relationship between accounting data and market price returns of the companies listed on the Prague Stock Exchange (PSE). The Prague Stock Exchange was established in 1993 and provides an opportunity to make a comparison between a newly established market and the findings of studies of established markets. There has been a wealth of publications and accounting research studies on developed markets. Generally, accounting attributes are thought to be relevant because they tend to be contemporaneously statistically associated with stock prices. Some studies have suggested, and empirically tested, that stock prices lead earnings (e.g. Collins et al., 1987; Kothari, 1992; Kothari and Sloan, 1992; Kothari and Zimmerman, 1995). This study tests the existence of such a relationship in the Czech capital market, relying partially on the methodology proposed by Kothari and Sloan (1992) and Kothari (1992). This paper investigates whether there is a statistically significant permanent relationship between returns and accounting data on the Czech market. The study was conducted using accounting earnings and stock prices during the period 1993–8. The empirical evidence here suggests that a similar relation exists on the emerging Czech market. The relation is statistically significant for measurement windows of one year and longer. The increase in the mean response coefficient, reported later in this study, suggests that one-leading-year returns are as important as contemporaneous returns in terms of their sensitivity to annual earnings changes. However, one cannot infer with a degree of confidence that the Czech capital market views earnings changes to be largely permanent, which would be consistent with the time-series properties of annual earnings.     

Trading volume and return volatility of Bitcoin market: evidence for the sequential information arrival hypothesis

Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination - This paper gives the first empirical evidence on the relationships between trading volume and return volatility of the Bitcoin denominated in...     

Robust tests of forward exchange market efficiency with empirical evidence from the 1920s

This paper provides a robust statistical approach to testing the unbiasedness hypothesis in forward exchange market efficiency studies. The methods we use allow us to work explicitly with levels rather than differenced data. They are statistically robust to data distributions with heavy tails, and they can be applied to data sets where the frequency of observation and the futures maturity do not coincide. In addition, our methods allow for stochastic trend non-stationarity and general forms of serial dependence. The methods are applied to daily data of spot exchange rates and forward exchange rates during the 1920s, which marked the first episode of a broadly general floating exchange rate system. The tail behaviour of the data is analysed using an adaptive data-based method for estimating the tail slope of the density. The results confirm the need for the use of robust regression methods. We find cointegration between the forward rate and spot rate for the four currencies we consider (the Belgian and French francs, the Italian lira and the US dollar, all measured against the British pound), we find support for a stationary risk premium in the case of the Belgian franc, the Italian lira and the US dollar, and we find support for the simple market efficiency hypothesis (where the forward rate is an unbiased predictor of the future spot rate and there is a zero mean risk premium) in the case of the US dollar.     

Share price reactions to advertising announcements and broadcast of media events

Over the last two decades, marketers have gravitated toward placing their ads in specific television programs such as the Super Bowl, Academy Awards, and the last episodes of sitcoms. While anecdotal evidence of positive outcomes in the form of increased sales, phone inquiries, and hits on the web sites of advertisers, there has not been any credible measurement of investor returns in this expensive strategy. We find that firms advertising for the first time, with greater advertising expenditures relative to sales, and with more effective/creative campaigns fare better in terms of the market reaction to their campaigns. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Long-term reactions to large stock price declines and increases in the European stock market: a note on market efficiency

This study tests for underreaction and overreaction in European large cap markets by examining the abnormal returns of those stocks in the EuroStoxx 50 Index following large price increases and decreases. We find that large price increases and declines tend to be followed by average market returns. Thus, our results support the efficient market theory, rather than any of the behaviour finance hypotheses. This insight is contrary to price patterns found in various national markets.     

Potential targets: An analysis of stock price reactions to acquisition program announcements

Stockholders of potential targets experience a statistically significant wealth gain of 0.59% over the 3-day window surrounding the acquisition program announcement. Potential targets are defined as those firms that subsequently receive bids. Using alternative definitions, such as a portfolio of all firms in the industry of the target or firms within the target industry with a higher probability of receiving a bid as predicted by a maximum likelihood logit model, yield qualitatively similar results. These findings suggest that events, such as program announcements, release significant merger related information well before a target is formally approached with implications for wealth effects at subsequent bids. As with normal targets, the likelihood of receiving a bid for targets that are part of a broad-based program of acquisitions increases in the level of agency problems, managerial inefficiency and in the proportion of tangible assets in the target.

Short sale constraints,dispersion of opinion,and stock overvaluation: Evidence from earnings announcements in China

Using a clean setting in China, we test the Miller (1977) hypothesis that stocks are overvalued in the presence of short sale constraints and dispersion of opinion as an extension of Berkman et al. (2009). We find that stocks with short sale constraints have significantly negative abnormal returns during earnings announcement periods, especially when investors have diverse opinions. These results are robust to alternative measures of abnormal returns and endogeneity concern. The findings help to explain the impact of short sale constraints on pricing efficiency and have important policy implications for relaxing restrictions on short selling and improving regular information disclosure in emerging markets.