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Short-term institutional investors and the diffusion of supply chain information

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  • Duan, Rui
  • Larkin, Yelena

Abstract

What informational advantage do short-term investors have? This paper demonstrates that short-term investors can benefit from the ability to process public, but slowly diffusing, supply chain information ahead of other market participants. In support of this argument, we find that short-term investors establish larger long and short positions in firms with high customer concentration. In addition, an increase in short-term institutional ownership is associated with higher stock returns in firms with high customer concentration, supporting the informational advantage hypothesis. Finally, the relationship between customer concentration and short-term institutional ownership strengthens in high information asymmetry environment. In contrast, we do not find preference towards high customer concentration firms among long-term institutions, who are less positioned to exploit short-lived informational benefits.

Suggested Citation

  • Duan, Rui & Larkin, Yelena, 2025. "Short-term institutional investors and the diffusion of supply chain information," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:empfin:v:81:y:2025:i:c:s0927539825000039
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jempfin.2025.101581
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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading
    • G23 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Non-bank Financial Institutions; Financial Instruments; Institutional Investors

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