When an event is anticipated, the firm's stock return around the announcement of the event may have an inconsistent sign: a positive sign around negative news, or vice versa. We attempt to quantify the frequency of this problem, first with a brief mathematical model and simulation, then with...

Takeover targets covered by more equity analysts receive higher premiums while their acquirers earn lower merger announcement returns. We confirm these results using exogenous shocks to coverage as instruments for coverage loss. The analyses also show that covered targets experience a permanent...