Redacted disclosure and analysts’ weighting of information

This paper investigates whether and how redacting value-relevant proprietary information from material agreements in initial public offerings (IPO) affects financial analysts’ weighting of private and public information. To the extent that redaction affects the firm information environment, I find that analysts place greater weight on private information for redacting IPO firms. This result prevails particularly among analysts who rely more on private information. Further evidence reveals that analysts’ increased reliance on private information stems from cognitive biases and incentives. Moreover, I ascertain that analysts’ heightened emphasis on private information increases idiosyncratic risk. These findings shed light on the role of firm information environment in analysts’ decision-making processes, which is of potential interest to regulators seeking to understand the consequences of redacting proprietary information in IPO filings.