In this research I empirically study the effects of information acquisition by investors or traders on analysts' forecast bias. Based on the theoretical literature on sell-side analysts, I argue that forecast bias is correlated to investors' information gathering, in two opposite directions. On...

We document that analysts cater to short-term investors by issuing optimistic target prices. Catering dominates among analysts at brokers without an investment banking arm as they face lower reputational cost. The market does not see through the analyst catering activity and their forecasts lead...

This paper analyses four key markets within the European context. In this context, where the level of analyst coverage is lower than in the US setting, we aim to ascertain whether the origin of optimism in analyst forecasts in these markets is mainly strategic or whether it also contains an...

A great number of academic papers evaluate the potential for incentive-driven bias in sell-side analysts' earnings forecasts. Yet bias does not necessarily invalidate a forecast, nor does it impinge on its relative quality. We find that analysts' forecasts are optimistic relative to recently...

The expectations management literature has so far focused on firms meeting the analyst consensus forecast — the expectations of analysts as a group — at earnings announcements. In this study we argue that investors may use individual analyst forecasts as additional benchmarks in evaluating...

I provide evidence that investors systematically overweight analyst forecasts by demonstrating that prices do not fully reflect the predictable component of analyst forecast errors. This evidence conflicts with conclusions in prior research relying on traditional approaches to predicting analyst...

We find that financial analysts provide more thorough forecasts when firms’ institutional investors are distracted (i.e., when firms are neglected). We establish the causality of the effect by identifying exogenous shocks leading to institutional investor distraction following Kempf, Manconi,...

This paper is an empirical investigation of the relation between the dispersion on analysts' earnings forecasts and the future performance following a change in the nominal price of shares. On a sample of US splits occurred from 1993 to 2013, we observe a change in the distribution of analysts'...

Overconfident CEOs are known to overestimate their ability to generate returns, overpay for target firms, and take excessive risks. We find a CEO's overconfidence can also indirectly affect other market participants, specifically analysts who issue earnings forecasts. First, firms with...

Investor relations represents a firm's commitment to communicate effectively with the external community which includes investors and analysts and both mandatory and voluntary information release is expected to reduce information asymmetry. We investigate the effects of disclosure quality on...