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Dissecting short-sale performance: Evidence from large position disclosures

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  • Jank, Stephan
  • Smajlbegovic, Esad

Abstract

Short sellers are perceived as informed, sophisticated investors. Yet little is known about their actual performance and trading strategies. Using a novel, hand-collected data set of daily position disclosures in Europe, we identify the entry, change, and exit dates of large short-sale positions for a wide cross section of stocks and investors. We find that hedge funds, the predominant investor group, generate an annualized Fama and French (1993) risk-adjusted return of about 5.5%, outperforming other investors. Evidence indicates that hedge funds act as arbitrageurs, generating their returns by trading on the mispricing-related factors, e.g. momentum, betting-against-beta, and quality-minus-junk. In the cross section of hedge funds, local, diversified, and active funds outperform their counterparts. On the position level, we document a first-mover advantage. The profitability of short sales also varies significantly with investors' holding period, location, and industry experience.

Suggested Citation

  • Jank, Stephan & Smajlbegovic, Esad, 2015. "Dissecting short-sale performance: Evidence from large position disclosures," CFR Working Papers 15-15, University of Cologne, Centre for Financial Research (CFR).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:cfrwps:1515
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    Cited by:

    1. Vikas Agarwal & Stefan Ruenzi & Florian Weigert, 2018. "Unobserved Performance of Hedge Funds," Working Papers on Finance 1825, University of St. Gallen, School of Finance.
    2. Fernando Chague & Rodrigo De Losso, Bruno Giovannetti, 2017. "Uncovering Skilled Short-sellers," Working Papers, Department of Economics 2017_01, University of São Paulo (FEA-USP).
    3. Chague, Fernando & De-Losso, Rodrigo & Giovannetti, Bruno, 2019. "The short-selling skill of institutions and individuals," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 77-91.
    4. Jank, Stephan & Roling, Christoph & Smajlbegovic, Esad, 2021. "Flying under the radar: The effects of short-sale disclosure rules on investor behavior and stock prices," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(1), pages 209-233.
    5. Greppmair, Stefan & Jank, Stephan & Smajlbegovic, Esad, 2023. "On the importance of fiscal space: Evidence from short sellers during the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    6. Chague, Fernando Daniel & Bueno, Rodrigo de Losso da Silveira & Giovannetti, Bruno Cara, 2018. "The short-selling skill of institutions and individuals: a market-wide and out-of-sample analysis," Textos para discussão 469, FGV EESP - Escola de Economia de São Paulo, Fundação Getulio Vargas (Brazil).
    7. Korn, Olaf & Kuntz, Laura-Chloé, 2017. "Low-beta strategies," CFR Working Papers 15-17 [rev.], University of Cologne, Centre for Financial Research (CFR), revised 2017.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Short-sale performance; Anomalies; Hedge funds; Fund attributes;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading
    • G15 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - International Financial Markets
    • G23 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Non-bank Financial Institutions; Financial Instruments; Institutional Investors

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