This study empirically documents that firms with large ratios of current capital expenditures to prior four-year average capital expenditures enjoy positive contemporaneous abnormal returns. It further documents that average capital expenditures across Compustat-covered U.S. corporations are...

This study examines the immediate and delayed market responses to revisions in analyst forecasts of earnings, target prices, and recommendations. Consistent with prior literature, revisions in earnings forecasts are positively and significantly associated with short-term market returns around...

Information on Order Backlogs (OB) have long been sought after by analysts and practitioners as indicators of future sales, and in turn, of future earnings and stock returns. OB disclosures, though mandatory for annual reports, are voluntary for quarterly reports, and sometimes presented in...

This study investigates market reactions to voluntary earnings guidance provided by managers after the enactment of Regulation FD, which requires companies to disseminate material news to all investors simultaneously. More managers now issue their guidance to the public instead of disclosure to...

This study explores an additional factor that is associated with differential levels of the post-earnings-announcement drift (henceforth drift) the contemporaneous surprise in revenues. Consistent with prior evidence about greater persistence of revenues and greater noise caused by heterogeneity...

This study examines the disclosure of labor-related costs by US firms, and estimates the proportion of these costs that are valued as an asset (human capital) by the market. Separate identification of labor-related costs in US financial reports is voluntary, and is made consistentlyonly by about...

Using quarterly and rolling four-quarter data, this study explores the incremental roles of accruals and net operating cash flows in generating abnormal returns for the full population of U.S. listed companies and specific industries. Quarterly net operating cash flow (OCF) is a stronger signal...

This study investigates whether stock market reactions to earnings information of firms that release their earnings close to quarter-end (Early) are systematically different from their industry peers which report later during the quarter (Late). Unexpectedly, we find that immediate market...

Breaking from a long stretch of using largely standard language in unqualified audit opinions, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) expanded audit reports to disclose Critical Audit Matters (CAMs) and the audit procedures used to address them. The first wave of CAM disclosures...

One of the most crucial decisions for investors and plan sponsors is the selection of funds among the thousands of available alternatives. We stress that an investor first needs to specify a target alpha, i.e., the expected fund return in excess of a benchmark, and that the target alpha...