This article documents how the changing composition of U.S. publicly traded firms has prompted a decline in the long-run mean of the aggregate dividend-price ratio, most notably since the 1970s. Adjusting the dividend-price ratio for such changes resolves several issues with respect to the...

This paper studies the excess returns on stocks, associated to various company fundamentals on a panel of US stocks from 1979 to 2008. The returns premia are measured using a random coefficient panel data model on the individual stock level. We show that the HML and SMB factors in the Fama and...

Option introduction is associated with increased analyst coverage and a generally enhanced information environment for the underlying stocks. We hypothesize that these effects are more significant for Nasdaq than NYSE/Amex stocks because the Nasdaq stocks that are optioned tend to be smaller,...

Quarterly earnings conference calls are becoming a more pervasive tool for corporate disclosure. However, the extent to which the market embeds information contained in the tone (i.e. sentiment) of conference call wording is unknown. Using computer aided content analysis, we examine the...

Fundamental indexing based on accounting valuation has drawn significant interest from academics and practitioners in recent times as an alternative to capitalisation weighted indexing based on market valuation. This paper investigates the claims of superiority of fundamental indexation strategy...

Besides the positively biased rating structure and procyclical nature of analysts' stock recommendations we observe that within the global universe stock recommendations and stock performance are largely uncorrelated. Nevertheless, investors are able to benefit from sell side stock...

Value investors generally characterize themselves as the grown ups in the investment world, unswayed by perceptions or momentum, and driven by fundamentals. While this may be true, at least in the abstract, there are at least three distinct strands of value investing. The first, passive value...

This study tests the performance of stock market forecasts derived from technical analysis by means of a specific indicator. The indicator is computed from E/P ratios and bond yields. Several stock markets are studied over a 20-year period. Two test statistics are introduced to utilize the...

We examine a comprehensive set of investment recommendations paired with analyst-specific information from over 1,000 buy-side analysts (predominantly analysts from hedge funds) from the private website SumZero.com. Recommendations from these analysts generate significant returns when the...

Survey evidence shows CFOs to believe that earnings management can enhance investor valuation of their firms. This evidence raises the question of correspondence between the beliefs of CFOs and investors. Surveying financial analysts to gain insight into how earnings management influences...