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A note on operating leverage and expected rates of return

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  • Guthrie, Graeme

Abstract

Conventional wisdom, used to explain the value premium, is that greater operating leverage increases systematic risk and therefore leads to a higher expected rate of return earned by a firm's owners. This paper shows that the relationship between operating leverage and the expected return is actually non-monotonic when allowance is made for the option to abandon an unprofitable project: the expected return is an increasing function of operating leverage when the latter is low, but a decreasing function when it is high. This demonstrates the dangers in drawing inferences from models that ignore the flexibility embedded in typical investment projects.

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  • Guthrie, Graeme, 2011. "A note on operating leverage and expected rates of return," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 8(2), pages 88-100, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:finlet:v:8:y:2011:i:2:p:88-100
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    Cited by:

    1. Ho, Tuan & Kim, Kirak & Li, Yang & Xu, Fangming, 2023. "Can Real Options Explain the Skewness of Stock Returns?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    2. Lifeng Gu & Dirk Hackbarth & Tim Johnson, 2018. "Inflexibility and Stock Returns," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 31(1), pages 278-321.
    3. Ho, Tuan & Kim, Kirak & Li, Yang & Xu, Fangming, 2023. "Does real flexibility help firms navigate the COVID-19 pandemic?," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(4).
    4. Guthrie, Graeme, 2013. "A value premium without operating leverage," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 10(1), pages 1-11.
    5. Glover, Kristoffer, 2024. "A comment on the relationship between operating leverage and financial leverage," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 67(PA).
    6. Graeme Guthrie, 2014. "Real Options And The Cross-Section Of Expected Stock Returns," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(2), pages 265-283, April.
    7. Huynh, Nhan, 2023. "Unemployment beta and the cross-section of stock returns: Evidence from Australia," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    8. Luis García‐Feijóo & Benjamin A. Jansen, 2023. "International evidence on the association of leverage with stock returns and the value premium," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 58(2), pages 315-341, May.
    9. Sarkar, Sudipto, 2018. "Optimal DOL (degree of operating leverage) with investment and production flexibility," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 202(C), pages 172-181.
    10. Sudipto Sarkar, 2020. "The relationship between operating leverage and financial leverage," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 60(S1), pages 805-826, April.

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