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Firm Complexity and Post-Earnings-Announcement Drift

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  • Barinov, Alexander
  • Park, Shawn Saeyeul
  • Yildizhan, Celim

Abstract

The paper shows that the post earnings announcement drift is stronger for conglomerates, despite conglomerates being larger, more liquid, and more actively researched by investors. We attribute this finding to slower information processing about complex firms and show that the post earnings announcement drift is positively related to measures of conglomerate complexity. We also find that the post earnings announcement drift is stronger for new conglomerates than it is for existing conglomerates and that investors are most confused about complicated firms that expand from within rather than firms that diversify into new business segments via mergers and acquisitions.

Suggested Citation

  • Barinov, Alexander & Park, Shawn Saeyeul & Yildizhan, Celim, 2014. "Firm Complexity and Post-Earnings-Announcement Drift," MPRA Paper 53887, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:53887
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    Cited by:

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    2. Cathy Xuying Cao & Chongyang Chen & Ekaterina E. Emm & Bo Han, 2022. "Corporate diversification and seasoned equity offering performance," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 58(2), pages 581-614, February.
    3. Narongdech Thakerngkiat & Hung T. Nguyen & Nhut H. Nguyen & Nuttawat Visaltanachoti, 2021. "Do accounting information and market environment matter for cross‐asset predictability?," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(3), pages 4389-4434, September.
    4. Sharad Asthana & Rachana Kalelkar, 2020. "Impact of economic policy uncertainty on disclosure and pricing of earnings news," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 55(4), pages 1481-1512, November.
    5. repec:grz:wpsses:2020-04 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Jaewon Choi & Linh Thompson & Jared Williams, 2019. "Asymmetric Learning from Prices and Post‐Earnings‐Announcement Drift," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 36(3), pages 1724-1750, September.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    post-earnings-announcement drift; conglomerates; mispricing; limits to arbitrage; complicated firms;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading
    • M40 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - General

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