In the 1980s, the average first-day return on initial public offerings (IPOs) was 7%. The average first-day return doubled to almost 15% during 1990-1998, before jumping to 65% during the internet bubble years of 1999-2000. Part of the increase can be attributed to changes in the risk...

Defenders of market efficiency argue that anomalies involving long-term abnormal returns are not robust to alternative methodologies. We argue that because various methodologies use different weighting schemes, the magnitude of abnormal returns should differ, and in a predictable manner. Three...

Companies issuing stock during 1970 1990, whether an initial public offering (IPO) or a seasoned equity offering (SEO), have been poor long run investments for investors. During the five years after the issue, investors have received average returns of only 5% per year for companies going public...

Recent studies have documented that firms conducting seasoned equity offerings have inordinately low stock returns during the five years after the offering, following a sharp run-up in the year prior to the offering. This paper documents that the operating performance of issuing firms shows...

One of the puzzles regarding initial public offerings (IPOs) is that issuers rarely get upset about leaving substantial amounts of money on the table, defined as the number of shares sold times the difference between the first-day closing market price and the offer price. The average IPO leaves...

Recent studies have documented that firms conducting seasoned equity offerings have inordinately low stock returns during the five years after the offering, following a sharp run-up in the year prior to the offering. This paper documents that the operating performance of issuing firms shows...