Baruch Lev (New York University, USA,) Theodore Sougiannis
Abstract
The book-to-market (BM) phenomenon - the positive association between BM and subsequent returns - looms large among capital market enigmas. Economic theory postulates that the difference between market and book values of companies reflects their future abnormal profits. We capture these abnormal profits for a large sample of science-based companies by estimating the value of the off-balance sheet investment generating those profits - the value of R&D capital - and show empirically: (i) Firms' R&D capital is associated with their subsequent stock returns. (ii) For R&D intensive firms, this 'R&D effect' subsumes the 'book-to-market effect.' (iii) The association between R&D and subsequent returns appears to result from an extra-market risk factor inherent in R&D, rather than from stock mispricing. We thus provide an explanation for the book-to-market phenomenon of R&D companies. Copyright Blackwell Publishers Ltd 1999.
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Volume (Year): 26 (1999-04) Issue (Month): 3-4 () Pages: 419-449 Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML
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