IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jjrfmx/v18y2025i7p362-d1692198.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Quantum Leap in Asset Pricing: Explaining Anomalous Returns

Author

Listed:
  • James W. Kolari

    (Adam C. Sinn ’00 Department of Finance, Mays Business School, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA)

  • Jianhua Huang

    (Technology and Innovation Center for Digital Economy (TIDE), School of Data Science, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen 518172, China)

  • Wei Liu

    (Adam C. Sinn ’00 Department of Finance, Mays Business School, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA)

  • Huiling Liao

    (Applied Mathematics, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL 60616, USA)

Abstract

This paper investigates the ability of asset pricing models to explain the cross-section of average stock returns of anomaly portfolios. A large sample of 286 anomaly portfolios are employed. We perform out-of-sample cross-sectional regression tests of both prominent asset pricing models and a relatively new model dubbed the ZCAPM. Empirical tests strongly support the lesser known ZCAPM but not other multifactor models. Further analyses of out-of-sample mispricing errors of the models reveal that the ZCAPM provides much more accurate pricing of anomaly portfolios than other models. We conclude that anomalies are anomalous to popular multifactor models but not the ZCAPM. By implication, the efficient market hypothesis is supported.

Suggested Citation

  • James W. Kolari & Jianhua Huang & Wei Liu & Huiling Liao, 2025. "A Quantum Leap in Asset Pricing: Explaining Anomalous Returns," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 18(7), pages 1-28, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jjrfmx:v:18:y:2025:i:7:p:362-:d:1692198
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1911-8074/18/7/362/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1911-8074/18/7/362/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Martin Lettau & Sydney Ludvigson, 2001. "Consumption, Aggregate Wealth, and Expected Stock Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(3), pages 815-849, June.
    2. Bekaert, Geert & Harvey, Campbell R., 1997. "Emerging equity market volatility," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 29-77, January.
    3. Shiller, Robert J, 1981. "Do Stock Prices Move Too Much to be Justified by Subsequent Changes in Dividends?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 71(3), pages 421-436, June.
    4. Barberis, Nicholas & Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert, 1998. "A model of investor sentiment," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 307-343, September.
    5. Andrew Ang & Robert J. Hodrick & Yuhang Xing & Xiaoyan Zhang, 2006. "The Cross‐Section of Volatility and Expected Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 61(1), pages 259-299, February.
    6. Martin Lettau & Markus Pelger & Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh, 2020. "Factors That Fit the Time Series and Cross-Section of Stock Returns," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 33(5), pages 2274-2325.
    7. John H. Cochrane, 2011. "Presidential Address: Discount Rates," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 66(4), pages 1047-1108, August.
    8. Loungani, Prakash & Rush, Mark & Tave, William, 1990. "Stock market dispersion and unemployment," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 367-388, June.
    9. Fama, Eugene F & French, Kenneth R, 1996. "The CAPM Is Wanted, Dead or Alive," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 51(5), pages 1947-1958, December.
    10. Martin Lettau & Markus Pelger, 2020. "Factors That Fit the Time Series and Cross-Section of Stock Returns," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 33(5), pages 2274-2325.
    11. De Bondt, Werner F M & Thaler, Richard H, 1987. "Further Evidence on Investor Overreaction and Stock Market Seasonalit y," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 42(3), pages 557-581, July.
    12. Fama, Eugene F, 1970. "Efficient Capital Markets: A Review of Theory and Empirical Work," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 25(2), pages 383-417, May.
    13. Fama, Eugene F. & French, Kenneth R., 1993. "Common risk factors in the returns on stocks and bonds," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 3-56, February.
    14. repec:bla:jfinan:v:59:y:2004:i:4:p:1481-1509 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. William F. Sharpe, 1964. "Capital Asset Prices: A Theory Of Market Equilibrium Under Conditions Of Risk," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 19(3), pages 425-442, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Keunbae Ahn, 2021. "Predictable Fluctuations in the Cross-Section and Time-Series of Asset Prices," PhD Thesis, Finance Discipline Group, UTS Business School, University of Technology, Sydney, number 1-2021, January-A.
    2. Adam Zaremba & Jacob Koby Shemer, 2018. "Price-Based Investment Strategies," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-3-319-91530-2, March.
    3. Kolari, James W. & Huang, Jianhua Z. & Butt, Hilal Anwar & Liao, Huiling, 2022. "International tests of the ZCAPM asset pricing model," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    4. Sonntag, Dominik, 2018. "Die Theorie der fairen geometrischen Rendite [The Theory of Fair Geometric Returns]," MPRA Paper 87082, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Fernando Rubio, 2005. "Eficiencia De Mercado, Administracion De Carteras De Fondos Y Behavioural Finance," Finance 0503028, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 23 Jul 2005.
    6. Nobel Prize Committee, 2013. "Understanding Asset Prices," Nobel Prize in Economics documents 2013-1, Nobel Prize Committee.
    7. Kaserer Christoph & Hanauer Matthias X., 2017. "25 Jahre Fama-French-Modell: Erklärungsgehalt, Anomalien und praktische Implikationen," Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, De Gruyter, vol. 18(2), pages 98-116, June.
    8. van Binsbergen, Jules H. & Boons, Martijn & Opp, Christian C. & Tamoni, Andrea, 2023. "Dynamic asset (mis)pricing: Build-up versus resolution anomalies," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 147(2), pages 406-431.
    9. James W. Kolari & Jianhua Z. Huang & Wei Liu & Huiling Liao, 2022. "Further Tests of the ZCAPM Asset Pricing Model," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-23, March.
    10. Shi, Huai-Long & Zhou, Wei-Xing, 2022. "Factor volatility spillover and its implications on factor premia," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    11. John H. Cochrane, 2017. "Macro-Finance," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 21(3), pages 945-985.
    12. Paul Handro & Bogdan Dima, 2024. "Analyzing Financial Markets Efficiency: Insights from a Bibliometric and Content Review," Journal of Financial Studies, Institute of Financial Studies, vol. 16(9), pages 119-175, May.
    13. Yilie Huang & Yanwei Jia & Xun Yu Zhou, 2024. "Mean--Variance Portfolio Selection by Continuous-Time Reinforcement Learning: Algorithms, Regret Analysis, and Empirical Study," Papers 2412.16175, arXiv.org, revised Aug 2025.
    14. Daniel, Kent & Hirshleifer, David & Teoh, Siew Hong, 2002. "Investor psychology in capital markets: evidence and policy implications," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(1), pages 139-209, January.
    15. Amit Goyal, 2012. "Empirical cross-sectional asset pricing: a survey," Financial Markets and Portfolio Management, Springer;Swiss Society for Financial Market Research, vol. 26(1), pages 3-38, March.
    16. Rocciolo, Francesco & Gheno, Andrea & Brooks, Chris, 2022. "Explaining abnormal returns in stock markets: An alpha-neutral version of the CAPM," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    17. Eunchong Kim & Taehee Cho & Bonha Koo & Hyoung-Goo Kang, 2023. "Conditional autoencoder asset pricing models for the Korean stock market," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 18(7), pages 1-30, July.
    18. Stijn Claessens & M Ayhan Kose, 2017. "Asset prices and macroeconomic outcomes: a survey," BIS Working Papers 676, Bank for International Settlements.
    19. Wei Liu & James W. Kolari, 2022. "Multifactor Market Indexes," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-26, March.
    20. Asgar Ali & K. N. Badhani, 2021. "Beta-Anomaly: Evidence from the Indian Equity Market," Asia-Pacific Financial Markets, Springer;Japanese Association of Financial Economics and Engineering, vol. 28(1), pages 55-78, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jjrfmx:v:18:y:2025:i:7:p:362-:d:1692198. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.