A Theory of Capital Structure, Price Impact, and Long-Run Stock Returns under Heterogeneous Beliefs

We study an environment with short sale constraints and heterogeneous beliefs among outsiders and between insiders and outsiders. Firm insiders choose between equity, debt, and convertible debt to raise external financing. We analyze two settings: one where heterogeneous beliefs is the only market imperfection and another where there are significant security issue and financial distress costs. Our model generates a pecking order of external financing different from asymmetric information models, and new predictions for capital structure, sequential tranching of securities, the price impact of security issues, and long-run stock returns. It also provides a new rationale for convertible debt issuance