Exact solutions are presented for the mean, variance, and skewness of compound portfolio returns, with and without periodic rebalancing, in a setting where single-period returns are symmetric. More frequent rebalancing reduces portfolio volatility and is unambiguously preferred by mean-variance...

Some common stocks display extreme positive performance. Between 1973 and 2020, 3,615 U.S.-listed stocks generated at least a 5x cumulative gross return relative to a prior low point, and also had a minimum inflation-adjusted market capitalization of $500 million. Among these, 29.8% repeated the...

We study outcomes to ADR investments between August 1954 and September 2020, with attention to ADRs associated with Chinese firms. Overall, ADRs improved investors’ wealth by $1.03 trillion, with more than a third of this amount attributable to ADRs associated with Chinese firms. A...

We study long-run outcomes to those who invested in non-U.S. stocks through American Depository Receipts (ADRs) between August 1954 and September 2020, with particular attention to ADRs associated with Chinese firms. Overall, ADRs improved their investors’ wealth by $1.03 trillion, as compared...

We document the importance of loan covenants to observed hedging outcomes, by studying lending agreements and derivative positions of U.S. oil and gas producers. The emergence of fracking technology was accompanied by sharp increases in capital spending and borrowing. The contracts involved...

Firms obtain noisy estimates of investors' required rates of return (discount rates) using market-based information. Discounted-cash-flow (DCF) methods, as commonly taught in MBA courses, lead to upward-biased estimates of project values in the presence of such noise, even when cash flow and...

Alpha depends on return measurement horizon, both theoretically and empirically. We demonstrate how alphas depend on horizon, introduce a procedure to estimate long-return-horizon alphas from short-horizon returns, and find that among those mutual funds with positive alphas estimated from...

We extend the theory of strategic trading around a predictable liquidation by considering the role of market resiliency. Our model predicts that even a monopolist strategic trader improves market quality and increases liquidator proceeds if trades' temporary price impacts are quickly reversed....

We study long-run shareholder outcomes for over 64,000 global common stocks during the January 1990 to December 2020 period. We document that the majority, 55.2% of U.S. stocks and 57.4% of non-U.S. stocks, underperform one-month U.S. Treasury bills in terms of compound returns over the full...