We test one of the main predictions of the financial flexibility paradigm that expectations about future firm-specific shocks affect the firm's leverage. We extract the expectations of small and large future shocks from the market prices of equity options. We find that expectations for future...

This paper reveals a novel way of constructing the option implied RX and HML_FX risk factors by utilizing the full cross-section of the 45 G10 cross-rate options. The option implied carry factors, IEP^{2,ZC}, are highly profitable strategies that surprisingly earn both positive carry and...

This paper is the first to study the hedging of price risk with uncertain payment dates, a frequent problem in practice. It derives a variance-minimizing hedging strategy for two settings, the first employing linear contracts with different times to maturity and the second allowing for...

We derive a simple formula for the cost of the ESO to the firm at the grant date under the assumption that the executive has a constant market-to-strike multiple. The market-to-strike multiple is defined as the ratio of the market price on exercise to the strike price of the ESO. The expected...

In this paper we investigate the optimal hedging strategy for a firm using option contracts, where both the role of production (quantity) and basis (proxy) risk are considered. Contrary to the existing literature, we find that the exercise price which minimizes the shortfall of the hedged...

After a market downturn, especially in an uncertain economic environment such as the current state, there can be a relatively long period with a sideways market, where indexes, stocks, etc., move in channels with support and resistance levels. We discuss option pricing in such scenarios, in both...

Financial statements and an accompanying NPV calculation are embedded into a binomial tree. This generalization of traditional static NPV analysis allows the financial statements to both evolve through time and, at any given time, to vary with states of the world (similar to a Monte Carlo...

More than half of S&P 500 CEOs receive options annually, however extant valuation models have not accounted for portfolio considerations. We show the inability of executives to diversify means portfolio effects matter: exercise thresholds and shareholder costs are lower than for stand-alone...

We consider the optimal exercise of a portfolio of American call options in an incomplete market. Options are written on a single underlying asset but may have different characteristics of strikes, maturities and vesting dates.Our motivation is to model the decision faced by an employee who is...