We examine the effect of investor attention on value loss due to securities class action lawsuits and fraud discovery. We find that investor attention is positively associated with damage to corporate reputation and the magnitude of value losses suffered by the defendant firm. The reputational...

We examine all S&P 500 firms over 1999-2014 that publicly characterize their annual performance with extreme positive language. We find that only 18% of such firms increase shareholder value, while nearly 75% have insignificant performance, and the remaining 7% actually destroy shareholder...