Prior research finds expected returns decrease in firm-level total asset growth. This study shows that external growth, measured as asset growth raised from capital markets, has stronger power than total asset growth predicting the cross section of average returns. External growth subsumes the...

This study examines the relation between aggregate volatility risk and the cross-section of stock returns in Australia. We use a stock's sensitivity to innovations in the ASX200 implied volatility (VIX) as a proxy for aggregate volatility risk. Consistent with theoretical predictions, aggregate...

This article sheds light on the question of whether asset growth are a strong candidate for stock return prediction in emerging markets. We test for the firm level asset investment effects in stock return by examining the relationship between asset growth rates and subsequent stock returns....

Hundreds of papers and hundreds of factors attempt to explain the cross-section of expected returns. Given this extensive data mining, it does not make any economic or statistical sense to use the usual significance criteria for a newly discovered factor, e.g., a t-ratio greater than 2.0....

Due to arbitrage risk asymmetries, the relationship between idiosyncratic risk and expected returns is positive (negative) among overpriced (underpriced) stocks. We offer a new active anomaly-selection strategy that capitalizes on this effect. To this end, we consider eleven equity anomalies in...

In a sample of the Brazilian stock market from 1999 to 2015, this paper shows that the book-to-market and momentum of individual firms capture some of the cross-sectional variation in average stock returns, while the market β and size do not play a role. The positive relation of cross-section...

We investigate the pricing of systematic tail risk measured by tail beta in the Chinese equity market. Using an array of tests, we examine the performance of more than 3,300 stocks for the years 1999 through 2018. Contrary to evidence from developed markets, we demonstrate a strong negative...

Two ex-ante variables are introduced to characterize the analysts’ biased behavior, namely the analysts’ disagreement and self-selection in analysts’ coverage. The study investigates the impact of the analysts’ disagreement and self-selection on the stock returns. A theoretical analysis...

Using the risk-neutral volatility and skewness computed from options on the S&P500, we show there is an asymmetric contemporaneous relation between stock returns and changes in implied market volatility and skewness. Changes in expected market volatility and skewness are cross-sectionally priced...