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Thinking Outside the Borders: Investors' Underreaction to Foreign Operations Information

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  • Xing Huang

Abstract

I use industry-level returns in foreign markets to examine the hypothesis that value-relevant foreign information slowly diffuses into the stock prices of U.S. multinational firms. A trading strategy that exploits foreign information generates abnormal returns of 0.8% monthly. I find that the market responds more slowly in periods with lower media coverage of foreign news and to information from more linguistically and culturally distant countries. These results suggest that both investors' inattention and lack of understanding of foreign information slow the incorporation of new information into prices. I further separate these two mechanisms by examining market responses to earnings surprises.

Suggested Citation

  • Xing Huang, 2015. "Thinking Outside the Borders: Investors' Underreaction to Foreign Operations Information," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 28(11), pages 3109-3152.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:rfinst:v:28:y:2015:i:11:p:3109-3152.
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    Cited by:

    1. Heusel, Nicola & Mager, Ferdinand, 2023. "Pension funding and the cross section of stock returns - The case of Germany," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    2. John Gathergood & David Hirshleifer & David Leake & Hiroaki Sakaguchi & Neil Stewart, 2023. "Naïve Buying Diversification and Narrow Framing by Individual Investors," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 78(3), pages 1705-1741, June.
    3. Zareei, Abalfazl, 2021. "Cross-momentum: Tracking idiosyncratic shocks," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 177-199.
    4. Jackowicz, Krzysztof & Kozłowski, Łukasz & Podgórski, Błażej & Winkler-Drews, Tadeusz, 2020. "Do political connections shield from negative shocks? Evidence from rating changes in advanced emerging economies," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    5. David C. Ling & Chongyu Wang & Tingyu Zhou, 2022. "Asset productivity, local information diffusion, and commercial real estate returns," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 50(1), pages 89-121, March.
    6. Erel, Isil & Jang, Yeejin & Weisbach, Michael S., 2020. "The Corporate Finance of Multinational Firms," Working Paper Series 2020-01, Ohio State University, Charles A. Dice Center for Research in Financial Economics.
    7. Iliopulos, Eleni & Perego, Erica & Sopraseuth, Thepthida, 2021. "International business cycles: Information matters," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 19-34.
    8. Xin Chen & Wei He & Libin Tao & Jianfeng Yu, 2023. "Attention and Underreaction-Related Anomalies," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(1), pages 636-659, January.
    9. So, Jacky Yuk-chow & Zhang, John Fan, 2022. "The effect of cultural heterogeneity on cash holdings of multinational businesses," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    10. Lee, Charles M.C. & Sun, Stephen Teng & Wang, Rongfei & Zhang, Ran, 2019. "Technological links and predictable returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(3), pages 76-96.
    11. Benhima, Kenza & Bolliger, Elio, 2022. "Do Local Forecasters Have Better Information?," MPRA Paper 117072, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Sep 2023.
    12. Bonam, Dennis & Goy, Gavin, 2019. "Home biased expectations and macroeconomic imbalances in a monetary union," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 25-42.
    13. Kathleen Bakarich & Jiaxin Liu & Joseph Weintrop, 2021. "At what life-cycle stage does the auditors’ going concern report add value?," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 56(3), pages 1129-1157, April.
    14. Boulland, Romain & Dessaint, Olivier, 2017. "Announcing the announcement," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 59-79.
    15. Hu, Ting & Chi, Yanzhe, 2019. "Can short selling activity predict the future returns of non-shortable peer firms?," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 165-185.
    16. Xin Wang & Haofei Zhang, 2023. "The cross‐predictability of industry returns in international financial markets," International Review of Finance, International Review of Finance Ltd., vol. 23(4), pages 859-885, December.
    17. Bai, John Jianqiu & Tang, Yuehua & Wan, Chi & Yüksel, H. Zafer, 2022. "Fund manager skill in an era of globalization: Offshore concentration and fund performance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(2), pages 18-40.
    18. Huang, Shiyang & Lin, Tse-Chun & Xiang, Hong, 2021. "Psychological barrier and cross-firm return predictability," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(1), pages 338-356.
    19. Zaremba, Adam & Cakici, Nusret & Bianchi, Robert J. & Long, Huaigang, 2023. "Interest rate changes and the cross-section of global equity returns," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    20. Chung, San-Lin & Liu, Wenchien & Liu, Wen-Rang & Tseng, Kevin, 2018. "Investor network: Implications for information diffusion and asset prices," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 186-209.
    21. Zifeng Feng, 2022. "How Does Local Economy Affect Commercial Property Performance?," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 65(3), pages 361-383, October.
    22. Liu, Xin & Yin, Chengxi & Zheng, Weinan, 2021. "The invisible burden," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    23. Huang, Shiyang & Lee, Charles M.C. & Song, Yang & Xiang, Hong, 2022. "A frog in every pan: Information discreteness and the lead-lag returns puzzle," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(2), pages 83-102.
    24. Blankespoor, Elizabeth & deHaan, Ed & Marinovic, Iván, 2020. "Disclosure processing costs, investors’ information choice, and equity market outcomes: A review," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(2).
    25. Noh, Joonki & Zhou, Dexin, 2022. "Executives’ Blaming external factors and market reactions: Evidence from earnings conference calls," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).

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