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Are short sellers incrementally informed prior to earnings announcements?

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  • Blau, Benjamin M.
  • Pinegar, J. Michael

Abstract

Contrary to the hypothesis that informed short sellers increase their positions prior to earnings announcements, we find that short activity declines in the pre-announcement period compared with activity in non-announcement time. This statistically significant, but economically modest, decline may suggest that the fraction of informed short sellers actually increases if (as Diamond and Verrecchia (1987) suggest) the uncertainty around earnings announcements increases short selling costs and causes uninformed short sellers to withdraw from the market. While we find a statistically and economically significant inverse relation between pre-announcement short activity and announcement period returns, when we control for the non-announcement ability of short sellers to predict future returns documented by Diether et al. (2009), the significance of the relation between pre-announcement short activity and announcement period returns vanishes. Thus, we infer that short sellers are not incrementally informed prior to earnings announcements.

Suggested Citation

  • Blau, Benjamin M. & Pinegar, J. Michael, 2013. "Are short sellers incrementally informed prior to earnings announcements?," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 21(C), pages 142-155.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:empfin:v:21:y:2013:i:c:p:142-155
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jempfin.2013.01.005
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Blau, Benjamin M. & DeLisle, Jared R. & Price, S. McKay, 2015. "Do sophisticated investors interpret earnings conference call tone differently than investors at large? Evidence from short sales," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 203-219.
    2. Xufeng Liu & Die Wan, 2022. "Does short‐selling affect mutual fund shareholdings? Evidence from China," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(S1), pages 1887-1923, April.
    3. Choy, Siu Kai & Zhang, Hua, 2021. "Earnings shocks, price responses, and short selling behavior," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    4. Siu Kai Choy & Hua Zhang, 2019. "Public news announcements, short-sale restriction and informational efficiency," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 52(1), pages 197-229, January.
    5. Hou, Deshuai & Meng, Qingbin & Zhang, Kai & Chan, Kam C., 2019. "Motives for corporate philanthropy propensity: Does short selling matter?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 24-36.
    6. Li, Shan & Mihaylov, George & Peranginangin, Yessy & Zurbruegg, Ralf, 2021. "Short selling patterns in cross-listed stocks," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 48(C).
    7. Meng, Qingbin & Li, Xinyu & Chan, Kam C. & Gao, Shenghao, 2020. "Does short selling affect a firm's financial constraints?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    8. He, Jingbin & Ma, Xinru & Wei, Qu, 2022. "Firm-level short selling and the local COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    9. Meng, Qingbin & Li, Ying & Jiang, Xuanyu & Chan, Kam C., 2017. "Informed or speculative trading? Evidence from short selling before star and non-star analysts’ downgrade announcements in an emerging market," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 240-255.
    10. Feng, Xunan & Chan, Kam C., 2016. "Information advantage, short sales, and stock returns: Evidence from short selling reform in China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 131-142.
    11. Zhu, Lin & Chen, Qinyuan & Yang, Shengzhi & Yi, Zhihong, 2021. "The role of analysts in negative information production and disclosure: Evidence from short selling deregulation in an emerging market," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 391-406.
    12. Ge-zhi Wu & Da-ming You, 2021. "Margin trading, short selling and corporate green innovation," Papers 2107.11255, arXiv.org, revised Aug 2021.
    13. R. Jared DeLisle & Bong Soo Lee & Nathan Mauck, 2016. "The dynamic relation between options trading, short selling, and aggregate stock returns," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 47(3), pages 645-671, October.
    14. Hae Mi Choi, 2020. "Short‐sale constraints and informational efficiency to private information: A natural experiment," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 55(4), pages 625-643, November.
    15. Lee, Bong-Soo & Ko, Kwangsoo, 2014. "Are Japanese short sellers information detectives?," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 89-97.
    16. Alexander, Gordon J. & Peterson, Mark A. & Beardsley, Xiaoxin Wang, 2014. "The puzzling behavior of short sellers around earnings announcements," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 255-278.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Short selling; Private information; Earnings announcements;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G10 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - General (includes Measurement and Data)
    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading

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