Barron’s most respected companies

In this study, we investigate the performance of firms selected to Barron’s Most Respected Companies against the S&P 500 and a matched sample over a short‐term, long‐term and operational basis. The most respected companies exhibit a statistically significant announcement effect associated with their selection and outperform the S&P 500 over longer‐holding periods. The overall sample and those firms identified as top picks outperform a matched sample of firms. In addition, as measured by changes in the return on assets, the post‐selection operational performance of the most respected firms was better than that of the matched firms.