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

This paper examines the effect of income smoothing on information uncertainty, stock returns, and cost of equity. I show that income smoothing through both total accruals and discretionary accruals tends to reduce firms' information uncertainty, as measured by stock return volatility, analyst...

We develop a measure of how information events impact investors' perceptions of risk that is broadly applicable and simple to implement. We derive this measure from an option-pricing model where investors anticipate an announcement that simultaneously conveys information on the announcer's...

The prevailing view of implied volatility comovements, IVC, defined as the correlation between a firm's implied volatility and the market's implied volatility, is that they indicate the presence of systematic volatility risk to the firm's investors. We take a different stance and conjecture that...

This study examines the relationship between components of OCI and analysts' forecasting behaviour, being forecast accuracy, analyst following and herding. The findings show that cash flow hedge (CFH) and foreign currency (FCX) elements are negatively associated with forecast accuracy and...

This study examines whether key characteristics of analysts' forecasts — timeliness, accuracy, and informativeness — change when investor demand for information is likely to be especially high, i.e., during periods of high uncertainty. Findings reveal that when uncertainty is high, analysts'...

We examine the influence of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) on the characteristics of analysts’ earnings forecasts over a thirty-year period, spanning a wide variety of political and economic conditions. Motivated by both theory and empirical evidence that suggest a decline in the quality of...

An important determinant of belief polarization is the different interpretations of the same information. We examine whether discourse uncertainty in corporate disclosures, an important driver of differential interpretations, leads to polarization in financial markets. Using a novel measure of...

We study whether bond markets efficiently incorporate information about risk. Our results suggest that bond investors underreact to risk information embedded in earnings announcements. A one-standard deviation increase in unexpected risk is associated with a three-day abnormal bond return about...

Firms with lower profitability have lower expected returns because such firms perform better than expected when market volatility increases. The better-than-expected performance arises because unprofitable firms are distressed and volatile, their equity resembles a call option on the assets, and...