"We evaluate whether the market reacts rationally to profit warnings by testing for subsequent abnormal returns. Warnings fall into two classes: those that include a new earnings forecast, and those that offer only the guidance that earnings will be below current expectations. We find...

Models in behavioural finance have been developed to explain apparent anomalies in stock returns. A property common to a number of these models is that agents under react in the short run to public signals about future earnings. This contrasts sharply with the popular informal belief that stock...