We identify analysts' information acquisition patterns by linking EDGAR server activity to analysts' brokerage houses. Analysts rely on EDGAR in 26% of their estimate updates with an average of eight filings viewed. We document that analysts' attention to public information is driven by the...

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 investigate the impact of observing peers’ information acquisition on financial analysts’ attention allocation. Using the timely disclosure mandate by the Shenzhen Stock Exchange as a setting, we find that, when analysts can observe that a firm is visited by other analysts, they allocate...

Using the introduction of high-speed rail (HSR) as an exogenous shock to costs of information acquisition, we show that reductions in information-acquisition costs lead to (i) a significant increase in information production, evidenced by a higher frequency of analysts visiting portfolio firms,...

Using the introduction of high-speed rail as exogenous shocks to costs of information acquisition, we show that reductions in information-acquisition costs lead to a significant increase in information production and improvement in output quality, evidenced by higher frequency of analysts...

We study the resource allocation role of voluntary disclosures when feedback from financial markets is potentially useful to managers in undertaking value maximizing actions. Managers weigh the short-term price implications of disclosure against the long-term efficiency gains due to feedback...

Analysts follow disproportionally firms whose fundamentals correlate more with those of their industry peers. This coverage pattern supports models of profit-maximizing information intermediaries producing preferentially information valuable in pricing more stocks. We designate highly followed...

By introducing the implementation of the Key Audit Matters (KAM) Disclosure Standards for China’s companies cross-listed in Hong Kong in 2017, we present evidence that KAM disclosure reduces analysts’ company visits, which is an important channel of information acquisition. The decreasing...

We examine how information processing cost affects investors' acquisition of firm-specific information using a natural experiment resulting from a recent mandate that US firms be required to adopt the eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) when submitting filings to the SEC. XBRL filings...

Using a panel of 425 European firms over the period from 1990 to 2005, we revisit Welch's (2004) finding that stock returns are the primary determinant of capital structure changes and that the corporate motives for issuing activities remain largely unexplained. We document that about half of...