FIRM CHARACTERISTICS AND ANALYST FOLLOWING IN THE UK

Bhushan (1989) proposed a model of analyst following, which he tested for US companies in 1985. The model was successful, in that the eight variables considered likely to influence analyst following were found to be significant in the regression model used, and an adjusted R²of 70% was achieved. The aim of this paper is to adapt his model and test it for UK companies using survey and other data from 1991. Bhushan found that the level of analyst following for a firm was positively associated with level of institutional investment, variability of returns, the correlation between the firm return and the market return and firm size. There was a negative association with the level of insider shareholdings and industrial diversification. The industrial category of the firm also was significant. This study shows similar results using data on analyst following of UK quoted companies, although industrial diversification does not appear to be an important factor in the UK, and the overall explanatory power of the model is lower than in Bhushan's study. An additional variable, the number of overseas listings, was found to add to the explanatory power of the model.     

PORTFOLIO PERFORMANCE AND THE INTERACTION BETWEEN SYSTEMATIC RISK,FIRM SIZE AND PRICE-EARNINGS RATIO: THE CANADIAN EVIDENCE

While some American studies relate portfolio performance to P/E ratios, others reject such a hypothesis or find evidence of a confounded P/E-size effect. This prevents conclusive inferences. Canadian markets are structurally different from American ones; thus American evidence may not apply to Canadian stocks. This study examines how interaction between P/E ratio, beta and firm size affects the portfolio performance of Canadian stocks. The results show a relative support for the firm size effect, even after proper adjustment for risk and alternate change in control variables. This evidence is not uniform across different quarters of the year but not restricted to year-end effect. The findings also demonstrate a positive correlation among the three variables. However, one cannot generalize conclusions since the analysis may not capture all other pertinent factors.     

AN IMPLICIT CLIENTELE TEST OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TAXATION AND CAPITAL STRUCTURE

This paper presents a test for the existence of high and low tax bracket debt clienteles. The test generates some evidence consistent with the implication of debt clientele theory that over time, firms' debt ratios should vary with the relative tax incentives for investors to hold debt. The results, however, do not support the existence of extreme financial leverage clienteles. Rather they are consistent with an incomplete equity market: low tax bracket investors hold the stock of highly levered firms and high tax bracket investors hold the stock of the low leverage firms.     

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.     

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE AND STOCK MARKET BASED MEASURES OF CORPORATE DIVERSIFICATION

This study examines the relationship between corporate diversification and financial performance. The use of a stock market based measure of diversification allowed a much larger database than in previous studies and overcame the subjective nature of measuring internal diversification. Because previous researchers found that firm size affected performance, size was controlled in this analysis. The authors conclude that there is no statistically significant relationship between the degree of internal diversification and financial performance.     

THE STRUCTURE AND PERFORMANCE OF THE UK BUILDING SOCIETY INDUSTRY 1970–78

This article seeks to discuss some of the issues concerning the evolving structure of the Building Society Movement in the UK during the 1970's and to present some statistical evidence for certain hypotheses concerning the performance during this period. It is hypothesized that the successful operation of the price cartel affected its performance in a number of ways; for instance, with regard to its discretionary policies. The article cites branching policies particularly of the medium sized Societies and the regression results presented cast doubt upon the efficacy of such policies, validating in turn the hypotheses of expense preference and X inefficiency. In addition, evidence is offered on the concentration and competition within the Movement which together with the apparent discretionary policies found, provide a justification, in the view of the authors, for future legislative action.     

通过关系营销建立新型的银企关系

国有商业银行银企关系是其形成竞争优势的重要资源,银企关系的塑造是企业文化的一部分,国有商业银行应将巩固优质客户群作为一项长期的战略.目前我国银企关系存在的主要问题是由于目标市场细分不够、有效益的客户群的不稳定以及仍不能避免的行政干预使银企关系不够正常,这些问题主要依靠国有商业银行制定和实施全面的关系营销战略予以解决.其侧重点包括:以客户需求为导向,树立质量、服务和营销融为一体的关系营销观念;科学地进行目标市场选择和定位;完整制定和全面实施关系营销战略;建立和完善营销组织机构,培养高素质的员工队伍.     

我国金融资产结构与经济增长关系的实证分析

金融资产按大类可分为银行金融资产和非银行金融资产.金融资产的快速增长及其结构的变化促进了一国国民经济的发展,但同时也存在一些问题.本文在对银行金融资产、非银行金融资产、国内生产总值进行定量分析的基础上,通过协整回归及误差修正模型的建立论证了中国金融资产结构与经济增长之间的关系.实证分析的结果表明,银行金融资产和非银行金融资产都与经济增长存在正向相关关系,但非银行金融资产较银行金融资产更有效率.因此,为推动经济增长,应积极发展非银行金融资产,注重改善金融资产结构,同时也要提高银行金融资产效率,以便全面提高金融对经济的贡献度.     

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SECURITIES YIELDS, FIRM SIZE, EARNINGS/PRICE RATIOS AND TOBIN'Sq

Several studies in financial economics have found a positive relationship between stock returns and firm size. This relationship persists even after controlling for various measures of risk. There is also a well documented inverse relationship between stock returns and the Price/Earnings (P/E) ratio. However, there is still substantial controversy whether the size effect subsumes the P/E effect or vice versa. In this paper, we demonstrate that neither the size nor the P/E effect subsumes the other. We introduce Tobin's q as a variable that is closely related to stock returns as well as to both the size and P/E effects and show that the size effect persists after controlling for both P/E and q , while the P/E effect becomes much smaller after controlling for size and q . This leads us to conclude that the size effect is more robust to additional controls such as Tobin's q than the P/E effect. Finally, the size effect is almost entirely a January phenomenon whereas the P/E effect is a non-January effect.     

A NOTE ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SYSTEMATIC RISK AND GROWTH IN EARNINGS

This paper provides a simple analytical derivation of the relationship between growth in earnings and systematic risk. Theoretically and empirically it concludes that this relationship is positive.