This study constructs a novel measure that aims to capture face-to-face private communications between firm managers and sell-side analysts by mapping detailed, large-volume taxi trip records from New York City to the GPS coordinates of companies and brokerages. Consistent with earnings releases...

In this paper, we examine whether sell-side financial analysts show a bias when translating their soft information into a hard format. Sell-side analysts produce both soft research output, in the form of a textual report, and hard research output, including earnings forecasts, target prices, and...

We examine whether financial analysts—sophisticated market participants—are subject to limited attention. We find that when analysts have another firm in their coverage portfolio announcing earnings on the same day as the sample firm (a “concurrent announcement”), they are less likely to...

This study investigates whether there are economic benefits for investors in analyzing differences in analyst quality. Although high-quality analysts’ average forecast is more accurate than the consensus forecast in firms with a large analyst following, the benefits of using high-quality...

Consensus analyst target prices are widely available online at no cost to investors. In this paper we consider whether these consensus target prices are informative for predicting future returns. We find that when considered in isolation, consensus target prices are not generally informative...

This study collects and examines a comprehensive sample of written analyst reports for worldwide equity funds. I investigate two features related to the Berk and Green (2004) model: investor sophistication and decreasing returns to scale. First, I find that the tone in analyst reports drives...

Following the Global Settlement, analysts extensively use a top pick designation to highlight their highest conviction best ideas. Such a designation enables analysts to provide greater granularity of information, but it can potentially be influenced by conflicts of interest. Examining a...

Using a novel database, we show that the stock-price impact of analyst trade ideas is at least as large as the impact of stock recommendation, target price, and earnings forecast changes, and that investors following trade ideas can earn significant abnormal returns. Trade ideas triggered by...

We document lead-lag effects in stock returns between co-headquartered firms operating in different sectors. Such geographic lead-lags yield risk-adjusted returns of 5-6% per year, about half that observed for industry lead-lag effects. However, while industry lead-lag effects are strongest...