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Overreaction to stock market news and misevaluation of stock prices by unsophisticated investors: Evidence from the option market

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  • Mahani, Reza S.
  • Poteshman, Allen M.

Abstract

This paper examines investors' option activity on value and growth stocks before earnings announcements. The main finding is that unsophisticated investors enter option positions that load up on growth stocks relative to value stocks in the days leading up to earnings announcements. This occurs despite the fact that at earnings announcements value stocks outperform growth stocks by a wide margin. The paper's results provide evidence that unsophisticated option market investors (1) overreact to past news on underlying stocks and (2) mistakenly believe that mispriced stocks will move even further away from fundamentals at impending scheduled news releases.

Suggested Citation

  • Mahani, Reza S. & Poteshman, Allen M., 2008. "Overreaction to stock market news and misevaluation of stock prices by unsophisticated investors: Evidence from the option market," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 635-655, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:empfin:v:15:y:2008:i:4:p:635-655
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Chang, Chuang-Chang & Hsieh, Pei-Fang & Tang, Chih-Wei & Wang, Yaw-Huei, 2013. "The intraday behavior of information misreaction across various categories of investors in the Taiwan options market," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 362-385.
    2. Choy, Siu-Kai, 2015. "Retail clientele and option returns," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 26-42.
    3. Bauer, Rob & Cosemans, Mathijs & Eichholtz, Piet, 2009. "Option trading and individual investor performance," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 731-746, April.
    4. Seo, Sung Won & Kim, Jun Sik, 2015. "The information content of option-implied information for volatility forecasting with investor sentiment," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 106-120.
    5. Lutz, Chandler, 2015. "The impact of conventional and unconventional monetary policy on investor sentiment," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 89-105.
    6. Adrian C. H. Lei & Frank M. Song, 2012. "Board structure, corporate governance and firm value: evidence from Hong Kong," Applied Financial Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(15), pages 1289-1303, August.
    7. Ni, Yensen & Day, Min-Yuh & Huang, Paoyu & Yu, Shang-Ru, 2020. "The profitability of Bollinger Bands: Evidence from the constituent stocks of Taiwan 50," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 551(C).
    8. Zghal, Imen & Ben Hamad, Salah & Eleuch, Hichem & Nobanee, Haitham, 2020. "The effect of market sentiment and information asymmetry on option pricing," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    9. Alfred Zhu Liu & Angela Xia Liu & Rui Wang & Sean Xin Xu, 2020. "Too Much of a Good Thing? The Boomerang Effect of Firms’ Investments on Corporate Social Responsibility during Product Recalls," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(8), pages 1437-1472, December.
    10. Yang, Ann Shawing, 2020. "Misinformation corrections of corporate news: Corporate clarification announcements," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    11. Chung, Sung Gon & Louis, Henock, 2017. "Earnings announcements and option returns," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 220-235.
    12. Chin‐Ho Chen, 2021. "Investor sentiment, misreaction, and the skewness‐return relationship," Journal of Futures Markets, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(9), pages 1427-1455, September.
    13. Iris Biefang-Frisancho Mariscal, 2017. "The impact of quantitative easing on aggregate mutual fund flows in the UK," Working Papers 20171704, Department of Accounting, Economics and Finance, Bristol Business School, University of the West of England, Bristol.
    14. Tom Adams & Thaddeus Neururer, 2020. "Earnings announcement timing, uncertainty, and volatility risk premiums," Journal of Futures Markets, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 40(10), pages 1603-1630, October.
    15. Ho, Kung-Cheng & Yang, Lu & Luo, Sijia, 2022. "Information disclosure ratings and continuing overreaction: Evidence from the Chinese capital market," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 638-656.
    16. Chunpeng Yang & Bin Gao & Jianlei Yang, 2016. "Option pricing model with sentiment," Review of Derivatives Research, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 147-164, July.

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