Informed traders of cross-listed shares trade more in the domestic market around earnings releases

This paper examines informed trading and price discovery for Canadian shares cross-listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and the main U.S. exchanges. The domestic Canadian market can absorb higher demand for liquidity but offers no trading cost advantage. During earnings non-announcement periods, the intra-market probability of informed trading (PI) is similar on both national markets, and both national markets contribute to price discovery. The magnitude and elapsed time over which trading volumes are increased when earnings are announced are higher in the domestic Canadian market. Around earnings announcements, PI decreases only on the U.S. market and the Canadian market contributes more to price discovery. To infer the fundamental values of the underlying cross-listed firms, market participants should monitor both markets, and intensify their monitoring of the Canadian market during earnings announcement periods.     

Earnings management and stock price crashes post U.S. cross-delistings

We examine whether cross-delisted firms from the major U.S. stock exchanges experience an increase in crash risk associated with earnings management. Consistent with our prediction, we find that earnings management has a greater positive impact on stock price crash risk post cross-delisting when compared to a control group of firms that remain cross-listed. More importantly, we find that this effect is more pronounced for cross-delisted firms from countries with weaker investor protection, poorer quality of their information environment and less conservative accounting practices. Our findings are robust to the potential endogenous nature of the cross-delisting decision, alternative measures of stock price crash risk and information asymmetry. We interpret our results as evidence of a “reverse bonding effect” following cross-delistings from U.S. stock exchanges.     

The economic consequences of increased disclosure: Evidence from international cross-listings

We examine market behavior around earnings announcements to understand the consequences of the increased disclosure that non-U.S. firms face when listing shares in the U.S. We find that absolute return and volume reactions to earnings announcements typically increase significantly once a company cross-lists in the U.S. Furthermore, these increases are greatest for firms from developed countries and for firms that pursue over-the-counter listings or private placements, which do not have stringent disclosure requirements. Additional tests support the hypothesis that it is changes in the individual firm's disclosure environment, rather than changes in its market liquidity, ownership, or trading venue, that explain our findings.     

The transmission of corporate financial information across national borders and equity market linkages

Although intra-industry earnings information transfers have been documented within individual nations, little or no attention has been given to examining whether these transfers also exist across national boundaries. This study sets out to investigate the issue by analyzing the abnormal stock market returns of British firms at the time of annual earnings announcements by U.S. corporations and the returns of U.S. firms at the time of profit announcements by British companies. Information transfers are also tested by examining whether earnings surprises of companies in one country are related to revisions in investment analysts' consensus profit forecasts of non-reporting firms in the other country. The accuracies of revisions in consensus earnings estimates are investigated. Evidence of transnational information transfers from the United States to Britain is found and the degree and level of the signal is related to various firm and industry characteristics including correlations in reported profits.     

The effect of the Sarbanes-Oxley act on non-US companies cross-listed in the US

This paper uses a natural experiment to measure market response to the adoption of the Sarbanes–Oxley Act (ʽʽSOX"). Because SOX applies to all US public companies, US-based studies have difficulty separating the effects of contemporaneous events. However, controlled analysis is available: SOX applies to some cross-listed firms (those listed on level 2 or 3), but not to others (listed on level 1 or 4). By comparing reactions of SOX-exposed foreign firms to reactions of otherwise similar SOX-unexposed foreign firms, we can test investor beliefs about the costs and benefits of SOX in a way that is not cleanly available for US-based studies. We find that stock prices of foreign firms subject to SOX declined (increased) significantly, compared to cross-listed firms not subject to SOX and to non-cross-listed firms, during key announcements indicating that SOX would (would not) fully apply to cross-listed issuers. In cross-sectional tests, high-disclosing firms and firms from high-disclosing countries experienced the strongest declines, while faster-growing companies experienced weaker declines. This evidence is consistent with the view that investors expected the Sarbanes–Oxley Act to have a net negative effect on cross-listed foreign companies, with high-disclosing and low-growth companies suffering larger net costs, and faster-growing companies suffering smaller costs, particularly when they are located in poorly governed countries.     

The incidence of earnings management on information asymmetry in an uncertain environment: Some Canadian evidence

In this study, we investigate the association between earnings management and information asymmetry considering environmental uncertainty. Results show that a complex and dynamic environment weakens the relationship between discretionary accruals and information asymmetry measured as share price volatility and bid-ask spread. More specifically, the positive relationship between earnings management and information asymmetry is weakened for diversified firms, those intensively investing in R&D, and those facing high sales volatility. This highlights the difficulty for investors to assess earnings management in an uncertain environment. Finally, in such a context, discretionary accruals are more likely to be detected by investors for firms cross-listed on a U.S. stock exchange, a more liquid and transparent stock market compared with the Canadian stock market.     

Market Segmentation Effects in Corporate Credit Rating Changes: The Case of Emerging Markets

We examine stock market reactions to corporate credit rating changes in 26 emerging market countries included in the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) Emerging Market Index. We hypothesize and test the notion that emerging market firms in the American Depository Receipts (ADRs) markets are more likely to purchase ratings from the Big Two (Moody’s and S&P), and that they react more strongly to the announcements of corporate rating changes by Moody’s or S&P than to those of raters in local markets. We compare the effect of credit rating changes of the Big Two in two emerging stock markets: local markets (local currencies) and ADR markets (U.S. dollars). We find significant price reactions in the ADR markets, and insignificant reactions in local markets, and conclude that there is capital market segmentation in ADR markets for credit rating changes of emerging market firms. We find evidence that investors react more strongly in the ADR markets than local markets because they require higher costs of capital for firms cross-listed both in the ADR markets and local markets due to greater expected bankruptcy costs and foreign exchange risks of those firms. We also report that stock markets react significantly, not only to rating downgrades, but also to upgrades in the ADR markets.

Information efficiency of the U.S. credit default swap market: Evidence from earnings surprises

The credit default swap (CDS) market attracted much debate during the 2008 financial crisis. Opponents of CDS argue that CDS could lead to financial instability as it allows speculators to bet against companies and make the crisis worse. Proponents of CDS believe that CDS could increase market competition and benefit hedging activities. Moreover, an efficient CDS market can serve as a barometer to regulators and investors regarding the credit health of the underlying reference entity. We investigate information efficiency of the U.S. CDS market using evidence from earnings surprises. Our findings confirm that negative earnings surprises are well anticipated in the CDS market in the month prior to the announcement, with both economically and statistically stronger reactions for speculative-grade firms than for investment-grade firms. On the announcement day, for both positive and negative earnings surprises, the CDS spread for speculative-grade firms presents abnormal changes. Moreover, there is no post-earnings announcement drift in the CDS market, which is in direct contrast to the well-documented post-earnings drift in the stock market. Our evidence supports the efficiency of the CDS market.     

Firm strategy and market reaction to earnings

We examine whether a firm's strategy affects the information content of the firm's earnings announcement. A cost leadership strategy is characterized by low sales margins coupled with large sales volumes, economies of scale and major investments in plant and physical assets, whereas a differentiation strategy involves high sales margins achieved through product quality and branding realized by investments in intangibles such as R&D and advertising. These characteristics of the strategies result in differential impact on investor reactions to new information that is revealed about firms. Our results show that firms pursuing a cost leadership strategy have earnings announcements that are more commonly interpreted and result in a greater change in the average belief about stock price. On the other hand, earnings announcements of firms pursuing a differentiation strategy result in more heterogeneous interpretation accompanied by a smaller change in the average belief about stock price. This paper advances our understanding of the cross-sectional variation in the market's reaction to earnings announcements. In addition, the paper demonstrates a predictable instance of divergence in the price reaction and trading volume reaction to an earnings announcement.     

Voluntary disclosure practices by foreign firms cross-listed in the United States

This is one of the first large-scale studies to examine the voluntary disclosure practices of foreign firms cross-listed in the United States. We proxy for voluntary disclosure using three attributes of firms’ management earnings guidance: (1) the likelihood of issuance; (2) the frequency of earnings guidance; and (3) a guidance quality measure. After first establishing that market participants view these firms’ disclosures as credible and economically important (i.e., the disclosures are negatively related to analyst forecast errors and the implied cost of equity capital), we compare cross-listed firms’ disclosure practices with comparable US firms and explore variations in disclosure practices among cross-listed firms. We find that cross-listed firms issue less frequent and lower quality management earnings guidance than comparable US firms. We further show that the gap between US and cross-listed firms widened after passage of Regulation FD, a regulation which induced greater public disclosure of firm-specific information. Focusing on the sample of cross-listing firms, we show that firms from common-law countries disclose more than firms from code-law countries. Finally, our results indicate that cross-listed firms that do not list on an organized US exchange provide more frequent and higher quality disclosure than those that do list on organized exchanges.     

The value of the PCAOB’s international audit oversight on U.S. listed foreign companies: Evidence from an initial enforcement breakdown

Using, as a natural experiment, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board’s May 18, 2010, release stating that its oversight of certain foreign auditors had been denied, we examine investors’ early valuation of the PCAOB’s international audit oversight on U.S.-listed foreign companies. Comparing reactions for the release-exposed U.S.-listed foreign companies to reactions for other U.S.-listed foreign companies, we find a significant decline in the share values of the release-exposed companies. The decline is driven by companies with auditors from China; the on-list companies from the 19 on-list European jurisdictions do not experience significantly negative stock market reactions. Using difference-in-differences analyses of earnings response coefficients, abnormal stock returns and trading volumes surrounding earnings announcements, and analyst forecast dispersions, we find a decline in perceived financial reporting quality for the release-exposed foreign listings from China but not for the release-exposed companies from the 19 European jurisdictions—a finding in line with the results of the stock market reaction analyses. These results are consistent with the view that the PCAOB’s international inspection would create a net value for U.S.-listed companies from China.     

The effects of legal regime on the patterns of stock returns surrounding ADR earnings announcements

This study examines the effects of legal regime on the patterns of stock returns surrounding the earnings announcements of American Depositary Receipt (ADR) programs. My results indicate that the properties of accounting earnings associated with the local legal regime of an ADR program spill over to U.S. GAAP reconciled earnings. In particular, I find that the market reacts significantly to the earnings announcements of the ADR programs from common law countries whose accounting earnings are known to be more conservative and timely, but not to those of the ADR programs from code law countries where the earnings are known to be less conservative and timely.     

The valuation properties of earnings and book values reported under IAS,domestic GAAP and U.S. GAAP: Evidence from China,Hong Kong,Japan, Korea and Singapore

This paper examines whether earnings or book value is the dominant valuation accounting measure for companies reporting under alternative accounting standards — International Accounting Standards (IAS)/International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (U.S. GAAP) or domestic accounting standards of China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea and Singapore. Our sample consists of domestic firms in the five Asian countries and firms from these countries cross-listed in the United States as American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) from 2002 to 2011. For domestic firms, book value is more informative than earnings for firms from Hong Kong, Singapore, China, Japan and Korea during 2002–2011 although their accounting standards are influenced by different systems. For the ADR sample, book value is more informative than earnings for U.S. GAAP reporters and reconcilers during 2002–2007. However, earnings are more informative than book value for U.S. GAAP reconcilers from China. After 2007, ADRs in our sample from Hong Kong, Japan and Korea continued to file under U.S. GAAP. Some ADRs from China filed under U.S. GAAP and some filed under IFRS. Earnings are more informative than book value for IFRS users; however, book value has higher incremental value relevance than earnings for U.S. GAAP users. We contribute to prior research by providing evidence on the valuation properties based on accounting measures reported under different GAAPs for the Asian countries.     

Do conference calls facilitate market price discovery? Evidence from Taiwan

This study examines whether conference calls accelerate the speed at which the market and analysts understand the implications of the accrual components of current earnings on future earnings. We analyze Taiwan’s listed firms from 2001 through 2014 and find that (1) delayed market reactions to earnings news during the following 12?months occur less often for firms than for host conference calls, and (2) conference calls are associated with a significant improvement in the accuracy of analysts’ earnings forecasts. One possible explanation for our results is that conference calls improve the efficacy of investors’ and analysts’ reactions to earnings announcements by conveying information regarding the accrual components of reported earnings. Our results have implications for other Asian economies that have relatively opaque information environments and weak shareholder protections.     

Do IFRS Reconciliations Convey Information? The Effect of Debt Contracting

We examine whether earnings reconciliation from U.K. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) convey information. As a result of debt contracting, mandatory accounting changes are expected to affect the likelihood of violating existing covenants based on rolling GAAP, leading to a redistribution of wealth between shareholders and lenders. Consistent with this prediction, we find significant market reactions to IFRS reconciliation announcements. These market reactions are more pronounced among firms that face a greater likelihood and costs of covenant violation and early announcements. While the association between later announcements and weaker market reactions is consistent with contractual implications of technical changes to earnings, which investors quickly learn to predict, it is inconsistent with IFRS forcing all firms in the sample to reveal firm-specific information through accruals. Thus, by showing that mandatory IFRS also affects debt contracting, we expand on existing IFRS research that focuses on how accounting quality and cost of capital are impacted.     

Public Predisclosure Information, Firm Size, Analyst Following, and Market Reactions to Earnings Announcements

Abstract:   This study examines the effects of public predisclosure information on market reactions to earnings announcements. We develop an empirical measure of public predisclosure information impounded in price prior to earnings announcements by cumulating abnormal returns on public news release dates during the quarter. Consistent with prior literature, we document a negative association between this measure and market reactions to subsequent earnings announcements. Moreover, we find that after controlling for this measure, firm size and analyst following are significantly positively associated with market reactions to earnings announcements. Contrary to prior empirical evidence, our results suggest that, after controlling for actual predisclosure information impounded in price, market reactions to earnings announcements are greater in magnitude for larger, more widely-followed firms than for smaller, less widely-followed firms.     

Does government report readability matter? Evidence from market reactions to AAERs

We investigate whether market reactions to Accounting and Auditing Enforcement Releases (AAERs) of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) vary with different levels of readability in the AAERs. After controlling for the complexity of an AAER report and the severity of the enforcement case, we find that when the AAER is more difficult to read, with readability measured based on the directives of the Plain Writing Act of 2010, markets react more negatively to the AAER announcement. Cross-sectional tests indicate that the effect of AAER readability is attenuated by investor sophistication and firm visibility, whereas the effect is more pronounced when AAER firms are exposed to greater uncertainty. Contrary to conventional wisdom that linguistically complex disclosures receive reduced market reactions, our results suggest that complex AAER announcements could trigger more negative stock price reactions, since investors under uncertainty and ambiguity tend to assume the worst and bid down the market value of AAER firms. Our study offers meaningful implications for regulators concerned with writing clarity in government documents.     

The COVID-19 pandemic: How important is face-to-face interaction for information dissemination?

Does face-to-face interaction still facilitate information transfer despite proliferating communication technologies? We use the COVID-19 collapse in such interactions to examine their influence on information flow in the stock market around earnings announcements. Using daily, county-level abnormal mobility of U.S. residents to proxy for face-to-face interaction, we find that firms located in counties with lower abnormal mobility experience a weaker immediate price reaction to earnings announcements and a larger post-announcement drift. Our findings suggest that lower face-to-face interactions dampen price discovery in financial markets, and that investor attention is a potential mechanism of this effect.     

Transmission of shocks from cross-listed markets to the return and volatility of domestic stocks

This paper examines the transmission of information from German and the U.S. markets to domestic markets using daily price and volume data of 264 stocks from 26 countries that are traded in their home country and cross-listed outside their home market as depository receipts (DRs); in the German market as Global Depository Receipts (GDRs) and in the U.S. as American Depository Receipts (ADRs). We identify days with significant news arrivals in a market through minimum thresholds for both significant absolute price change and trading volume. DR returns and volatilities are affected by the shocks in the markets where they are cross-listed controlling for domestic shocks. Contemporaneous and/or lagged shocks to the cross-listed markets are transmitted to domestic stock returns and volatilities. South American DRs are affected mostly by U.S. shocks, while Eastern European DRs show greater reaction to the German shocks.     

LABOR LAWS AND FIRM PERFORMANCE

U.S. labor laws impose higher costs on unionized firms in states without right‐to‐work (RTW) laws. I find that these firms experience poor stock performance. The difference‐in‐differences analysis comparing the effect of RTW laws on unionized and nonunionized firms shows that unionized firms in states without RTW laws underperform by about 7 percentage points per year. I find further evidence of underperformance using alternative methods to estimate abnormal stock performance, examining a natural experiment, showing expected cross‐sectional patterns, and assessing profitability and the market reaction to earnings announcements.