IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/rjr/romjef/vy2021i2p162-180.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Role of Dividends on Equity Valuation: Evidence from the GCC Countries

Author

Listed:
  • Bassam M. ABU-ABBAS

    (Department of Accounting and Information Systems, College of Business and Economics, Qatar University. Doha, Qatar.)

Abstract

The paper extends the research on the ability of dividends to predict three equity valuation attributes : net earnings, cash flows from operations, and abnormal net earnings. Results from 264 companies that traded on the GCC Exchange during 2006–2016 provide the following insights. First, current dividends are value-relevant in predicting future net earnings, cash flows from operations, and abnormal net earnings. Second, current dividends are better predictors of these aspects over the short horizon than over the long horizon. Finally, in explaining the dividend policy, future net earnings have better incremental information than cash flows from operations and abnormal net earnings, and cash flows from operations have better incremental information than abnormal net earnings. These results have important implications for potential investors. To know the relationship between current dividends and future stock prices is considered important for Investors’ decisions in the GCC countries. This paper can be considered the first paper that studies the association between dividends and other three different equity valuation attributes as a comparative study of six emerging countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Bassam M. ABU-ABBAS, 2021. "The Role of Dividends on Equity Valuation: Evidence from the GCC Countries," Journal for Economic Forecasting, Institute for Economic Forecasting, vol. 0(2), pages 162-180, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:rjr:romjef:v::y:2021:i:2:p:162-180
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.ipe.ro/rjef/rjef2_21/rjef2_2021p162-180.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Martin Lettau & Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh, 2008. "Reconciling the Return Predictability Evidence," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 21(4), pages 1607-1652, July.
    2. Gary C. Biddle & Gim S. Seow & Andrew F. Siegel, 1995. "Relative versus Incremental Information Content," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 12(1), pages 1-23, September.
    3. Carlo Alberto Magni & Ignacio Velez-Pareja, 2009. "Potential dividends versus actual cash flows in firm valuation," Proyecciones Financieras y Valoración 5516, Master Consultores.
    4. Joy Begley & Gerald A. Feltham, 2002. "The Relation between Market Values, Earnings Forecasts, and Reported Earnings," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 19(1), pages 1-48, March.
    5. Dechow, Patricia M., 1994. "Accounting earnings and cash flows as measures of firm performance : The role of accounting accruals," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 3-42, July.
    6. Brav, Alon & Graham, John R. & Harvey, Campbell R. & Michaely, Roni, 2005. "Payout policy in the 21st century," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(3), pages 483-527, September.
    7. Jensen, Michael C, 1986. "Agency Costs of Free Cash Flow, Corporate Finance, and Takeovers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(2), pages 323-329, May.
    8. Malcolm Baker & Jeffrey Wurgler, 2004. "A Catering Theory of Dividends," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 59(3), pages 1125-1165, June.
    9. Garrett, Ian & Priestley, Richard, 2012. "Dividend Growth, Cash Flow, and Discount Rate News," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 47(5), pages 1003-1028, October.
    10. Myron J. Gordon & Eli Shapiro, 1956. "Capital Equipment Analysis: The Required Rate of Profit," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 3(1), pages 102-110, October.
    11. Stephen H. Penman & Theodore Sougiannis, 1998. "A Comparison of Dividend, Cash Flow, and Earnings Approaches to Equity Valuation," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(3), pages 343-383, September.
    12. Merton H. Miller & Franco Modigliani, 1961. "Dividend Policy, Growth, and the Valuation of Shares," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 34, pages 411-411.
    13. Mohammed Amidu & Joshua Abor, 2006. "Determinants of dividend payout ratios in Ghana," Journal of Risk Finance, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 7(2), pages 136-145, March.
    14. Dhaliwal, Dan S. & Erickson, Merle & Trezevant, Robert, 1999. "A Test of the Theory of Tax Clienteles for Dividend Policies," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association, vol. 52(n. 2), pages 179-94, June.
    15. DeAngelo, Harry & DeAngelo, Linda & Stulz, Rene M., 2006. "Dividend policy and the earned/contributed capital mix: a test of the life-cycle theory," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(2), pages 227-254, August.
    16. Francis, J & Olsson, P & Oswald, DR, 2000. "Comparing the accuracy and explainability of dividend, free cash flow, and abnormal earnings equity value estimates," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(1), pages 45-70.
    17. Ali, A, 1994. "The Incremental Information-Content Of Earnings, Working Capital From Operations, And Cash Flows," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 61-74.
    18. Cheng, CSA & Liu, CS & Schaefer, TF, 1996. "Earnings permanence and the incremental information content of cash flows from operations," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(1), pages 173-181.
    19. Jing Liu & Doron Nissim & Jacob Thomas, 2002. "Equity Valuation Using Multiples," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(1), pages 135-172, March.
    20. Kenton K. Yee, 2005. "Aggregation, Dividend Irrelevancy, and Earnings†Value Relations," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 22(2), pages 453-480, June.
    21. Basil Al-Najjar & Yacine Belghitar, 2012. "The information content of cashflows in the context of dividend smoothing," Economic Issues Journal Articles, Economic Issues, vol. 17(2), pages 57-70, September.
    22. Dhaliwal, Dan S. & Erickson, Merle & Trezevant, Robert, 1999. "A Test of the Theory of Tax Clienteles for Dividend Policies," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 52(2), pages 179-194, June.
    23. Al-Yahyaee, Khamis H. & Pham, Toan M. & Walter, Terry S., 2011. "The information content of cash dividend announcements in a unique environment," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 606-612, March.
    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. Kartal Demirg ne, 2015. "Determinants of Target Dividend Payout Ratio: A Panel Autoregressive Distributed Lag Analysis," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 5(2), pages 418-426.
    2. Ed-Dafali, Slimane & Patel, Ritesh & Iqbal, Najaf, 2023. "A bibliometric review of dividend policy literature," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    3. Karel Janda, 2019. "Earnings Stability and Peer Company Selection for Multiple Based Indirect Valuation," Czech Journal of Economics and Finance (Finance a uver), Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, vol. 69(1), pages 37-75, February.
    4. du Jardin, Philippe & Séverin, Eric, 2011. "Dividend policy," MPRA Paper 44382, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Lee, King Fuei, 2010. "Retail minority shareholders and corporate reputation as determinant of dividend policy in Australia," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 18(4), pages 351-368, September.
    6. Kim, Soojung & Park, Soon Hong & Suh, Jungwon, 2018. "A J-shaped cross-sectional relation between dividends and firm value," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 857-877.
    7. Luzi Hail & Ahmed Tahoun & Clare Wang, 2014. "Dividend Payouts and Information Shocks," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(2), pages 403-456, May.
    8. Isakov, Dusan & Weisskopf, Jean-Philippe, 2013. "Do not wake sleeping dogs: Pay-out policies in founding family firms," FSES Working Papers 443, Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, University of Freiburg/Fribourg Switzerland.
    9. Darakhshan Younis & Attiya Yasmin Javid, 2014. "Market Imperfections and Dividend Policy Decisions of Manufacturing Sector of Pakistan," PIDE-Working Papers 2014:99, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics.
    10. ElBannan, Mona A., 2020. "Does catering behavior persist? Evidence on dividend sentiment in emerging financial markets," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 350-373.
    11. Kothari, S. P., 2001. "Capital markets research in accounting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1-3), pages 105-231, September.
    12. Blau, Benjamin M. & Fuller, Kathleen P., 2008. "Flexibility and dividends," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 133-152, April.
    13. Sun, Liang & Yu, Huaibing, 2022. "The effects of busy board on firm’s probability to pay dividends," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    14. Booth, Laurence & Zhou, Jun, 2017. "Dividend policy: A selective review of results from around the world," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 1-15.
    15. Caliskan, Deren & Doukas, John A., 2015. "CEO risk preferences and dividend policy decisions," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 18-42.
    16. Ye, Dezhu & Deng, Jie & Liu, Yi & Szewczyk, Samuel H. & Chen, Xiao, 2019. "Does board gender diversity increase dividend payouts? Analysis of global evidence," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 1-26.
    17. Nicolas Aubert, 2016. "Does the Catering Theory of Dividend Apply to the French Listed Firms?," Bankers, Markets & Investors, ESKA Publishing, issue 145, pages 27-38, November-.
    18. Byun, Jinho & Kim, Kihun & Liao, Rose C. & Pan, Carrie, 2021. "The Impact of Investor Sentiment on Catering Incentives around the World," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    19. Joseph Yensu & Charles Adusei, 2016. "Dividend Policy Decision across African Countries," International Journal of Economics and Finance, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 8(6), pages 1-63, June.
    20. Henry, Darren, 2011. "Ownership structure and tax-friendly dividends," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(10), pages 2747-2760, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    dividends; net earnings; cash flows from operations; abnormal net earnings; GCC countries;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • M40 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - General
    • N25 - Economic History - - Financial Markets and Institutions - - - Asia including Middle East
    • O53 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Asia including Middle East
    • F30 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - General
    • G15 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - International Financial Markets

    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:rjr:romjef:v::y:2021:i:2:p:162-180. 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: Corina Saman (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ipacaro.html .

    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.