Business Commons^™

Financial Statement Analysis Project: "The Big Simulation", Luna Y. Goldblatt, Joao Q. Chaves, Andrew M. Landman, Salmin B. Mwinjuma, Braden C. Vitelli

Open Educational Resources

This project uses real-world financial statements (for Best Buy Co. Inc. and Nvidia Corporation) and creates a role-playing game where students can choose to be one of 4 capital market participants: an innovator that designs a brand-new accounting system, a company that prepares its best version of financial statements, an investor that chooses its ideal portfolio stocks, and a forensic accountant that looks for evidence of earnings management. The project helps student learn to conduct financial statement analysis and appreciate the impact of these statements on company financial ratios and capital market performance.

The Myth Of The Ideal Investor, Elisabeth De Fontenay

Faculty Scholarship

Critiques of specific investor behavior often assume an ideal investor against which all others should be compared. This ideal investor figures prominently in the heated debates over the impact of investor time horizons on firm value. In much of the commentary, the ideal is a longterm investor that actively monitors management, but the specifics are typically left vague. That is no coincidence. The various characteristics that we might wish for in such an investor cannot peacefully coexist in practice.

If the ideal investor remains illusory, which of the real-world investor types should we champion instead? The answer, I argue, is …

What Happens When A Stock Is Added To The Nasdaq-100 Index? What Doesn’T Happen?, Susana Yu, Gwendolyn Webb, Kishore Tandon

Department of Accounting and Finance Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Purpose – Prior research on additions to the S&P 500 and the smaller MidCap 400 and SmallCap 600 indexes reach different conclusions regarding the key variables that explain the cross-section of announcement period abnormal returns. Most notable in this regard is that liquidity measures, long thought to be of importance, do not appear to explain abnormal returns of the S&P 500 when other factors are controlled for. By contrast, they do appear to matter for additions to the smaller stock indexes. To explore this difference, the purpose of this paper is to analyze the abnormal returns upon announcement that a …

Government Shutdown: A Test Of Market Effeciency, Jessica H. Woodard

Theses & Honors Papers

How does the market react to a government shutdown? Can investors earn above normal returns by acting on this type of information? How efficient is the market in reacting to the announcement of this type of event? This event study tests market efficiency theory by analyzing the impact of two recent US Government shutdowns on the risk adjusted stock price returns of a sample of 50 firms. This study used the standard risk adjusted event study methodology found in the finance literature. Evidence confirms the significant and consistent negative reaction of the risk adjusted returns for the two 50 firm …

Duopolistic Competition Under Risk Aversion And Uncertainty, Michail Chronopoulos, Bert De Reyck, Afzal Siddiqui

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

A monopolist typically defers entry into an industry as both price uncertainty and the level of risk aversion increase. By contrast, the presence of a rival typically hastens entry under risk neutrality. Here, we examine these two opposing effects in a duopoly setting. We demonstrate that the value of a firm and its entry decision behave differently with risk aversion and uncertainty depending on the type of competition. Interestingly, if the leader’s role is defined endogenously, then higher uncertainty makes her relatively better off, whereas with the roles exogenously defined, the impact of uncertainty is ambiguous.

Dividend Policy And Stock Price Volatility In The U.S. Equity Capital Market, Kyle A. Profilet

Theses & Honors Papers

What factors affect the volatility of a stock's price over time? What specific financial factors lead a stock to be more volatile than others? This study attempts to identify the impact of certain financial variables on the volatility of a stock's price overtime by analyzing the.financial data of over 500 publicly traded.firms found through the Value Line Investment Survey database using Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) Regression. The study tests the effects of financial variables (deemed appropriate by the finance literature) on stock price volatility (as measured by the stock's standard deviation) for a sample of firms screened.from the Value …

The Impact Of Increased Dividend Announcements On Stock Price: A Test Of Market Efficiency, Douglas S. Laabs

Theses & Honors Papers

The purpose of this study is to test the semi-strong form efficient market hypothesis by analyzing the effects of increased dividend announcements on stock price. Specifically, is it possible to earn an above normal return on a publicly traded stock when the firm announ …

Debt And Dividend Decisions: Stock Vs. Non-Stock Firms, William R. Nixon Iii

Theses & Honors Papers

This study tests the trade-off and pecking order theories about the debt and dividend decisions for stock and non-stock firms. The decision to finance investments with debt or equity determines the firm's capital structure. The trade-off theory posits an optimal balance of debt and equity, motivating the form to use debt until its cost exceeds issuing equity thus deriving the firm's optimal capital structure. Meanwhile, the pecking order theorem contends the firm should use internal funds first, then debt, and equity as a last resort. Both theories have the same fundamentals for the payout of dividends. More profitable firms with …

Risk Allocation Across The Enterprise: Evidence From The Insurance Industry, Michael K. Mcshane, Tao Zhang, Larry A. Cox

Finance Faculty Publications

Financial researchers initially regarded hedging activities as a means to reduce total firm risk, which often is defined in terms of cash flow volatility. More recently, researchers have focused on the strategic allocation of risk. Direct tests of risk allocation have been problematic, however, because hedging data are rarely available and, when available, are specific only to a single operation of the firm, such as bank lending. In this study, we exploit unique data from the insurance industry that allows us to observe hedging proxies for both investment and insurance underwriting risks and test the risk allocation hypothesis developed in …

Basic Concepts In Forest Valuation And Investment Analysis: Edition 3.0, Steven H. Bullard, Thomas J. Straka

Faculty Publications

This book was originally intended to supplement lectures in forestry economics at the undergraduate level. It’s currently used for that purpose in ‘Forest Resource Economics’ courses at several universities. The book is also intended, however, to serve as a basic reference for foresters with experience in valuation and investment analysis concepts and methods. It has proven to be a valuable resource in forest valuation and investment analysis workshops for practicing foresters, landowners, and others interested in forestry investments.

Basic Concepts In Forest Valuation And Investment Analysis, Steven H. Bullard, Thomas J. Straka

eBooks

This book was originally intended to supplement lectures in forestry economics at the undergraduate level. It’s currently used for that purpose in ‘Forest Resource Economics’ courses at several universities. The book is also intended, however, to serve as a basic reference for foresters with experience in valuation and investment analysis concepts and methods. It has proven to be a valuable resource in forest valuation and investment analysis workshops for practicing foresters, landowners, and others interested in forestry investments.

Ideal for use in undergraduate and graduate forestry education programs, as well as in forest valuation workshops.

The Debt And Dividend Decisions For Non-Stock Cooperatives: Pecking Order Vs. Trade-Off, David P. Smiy

Theses & Honors Papers

This study tests the trade-off and pecking order theories about the debt and dividend capital decisions for non-stock electric cooperatives. Decisions to finance investments with debt or equity are important because they determine the firm's capital structure. With the trade-off theory there is an optimal balance of debt and equity, and the firm uses debt until it is more expensive than issuing equity thus reaching the firm's optimal capital structure. Meanwhile, the pecking order theorem contends the firm should use internal funds first, then debt, and equity as a last resort. Both theories have the same …

Forval: Computer Software Package For Agricultural And Natural Resources Investment Analysis, T. J. Straka, Steven H. Bullard

Faculty Publications

The valuation of agricultural and natural resource investments presents challenging analysis problems that often require the use of computer software. Most of these computer packages are complex and costly. FORVAL is a free, user-friendly, menu-driven, agricultural and natural resource investment analysis package. It can accommodate any investment scenario and includes the standard financial criteria (net present value, rate of return, equal annual income, benefit/cost ratio, and land expectation value for forestry investments). FORVAL accommodates various cash flows like single sum, terminating annual and periodic series, and perpetual annual and periodic series. It also has options for payment and price projections.

The Impact Of Stock Split Announcements On Stock Price: A Test Of Market Efficiency, Carlos Garcia De Andoain

Theses & Honors Papers

The purpose of this study is to test whether the investor can make an above normal return by relying on public information impounded in a stock split announcement. Using risk adjusted event study methodology, this study tests "how" and "when" public announcements of forward and reverse stock splits affect stock price. Stock split announcement samples include 38 two for one, 39 three for two, and 10 reverse splits. A total o f 36,714 observations for the announcement samples and the corresponding S&P 500 stock index were analyzed using standard risk adjusted event study methodology. Results suggest that the firms' public …

Determinants Of Debt And Dividend Decisions: Trade-Off Vs Pecking Order, Caitlin A. Farrell

Theses & Honors Papers

This study tests the trade-off and pecking order theories about the dividend and debt decisions for stock firms. The decision of a firm to use debt to finance investment opportunities is important since the firm's choice between debt or equity determines the optimal capital structure. Under the trade-off theory, there is some optimal balance between debt and equity, and the firm will use debt until the cost of taking on more debt is more expensive than the cost of issuing equity. The firm uses internal fonds first under the pecking order theory, and then if more financing is needed, the …

The Impact Of Credit Watch And Bond Rating Changes On Abnormal Stock Returns For Non-Usa Domiciled Corporations, Benjamin Boon Ching Ee

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

In this paper, we investigate whether credit watches and bond rating changes issued by Moodys' and S&P Credit Rating Agencies provide significant new information to investors for Non-USA domiciled corporations. We also examine whether the stock related cumulative abnormal return (CAR) differs according to the classification of the country of domicile (emerging or developed) of the corporation, and varies by state of the local stock market during the time of the rating event.
We find that on average, negative credit watches as well as long term rating downgrades result in significant stock related CAR for Non-USA domiciled 4 corporations. However, …

Project Options Valuation With Net Present Value And Decision Tree Analysis, Bert De Reyck, Zeger Degraeve, Roger Vandenborre

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Real options analysis (ROA) has been developed to correctly value projects with inherent flexibility, including the possibility to abandon, defer, expand, contract or switch to a different project. ROA allows computing the correct discount rate using the replicating portfolio technique or risk-neutral probability method. We propose an alternative approach for valuing Real Options based on the certainty-equivalent version of the net present value formula, which eliminates the need to identify market-priced twin securities. In addition, our approach can be extended to the case of multinomial trees, a useful tool for modeling uncertainty in projects. We introduce within decision tree analysis …

Analysis Of Trade Dependence And Correlation Of Market Returns Between The United States And Nordic Countries, Helen Saar

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of the present research paper was three fold. First, determine if there is a trade interdependence between the United States and Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Sweden, and Baltic States). Second, determine if there is correlation between the respective equity markets. Third, determine if the changes in the trade relations lead to the changes in stock market correlations. The hypothesis of the project was that weaker trade relations between two countries would lead to lower correlation between their stock markets, providing beneficial opportunities for portfolio diversification. The overall objective is to ascertain if Nordic markets are good targets to …

The Potage Of Chinese Stocks: Strengths And Weaknesses For United States Investors, Shubhi Srivastava

Theses Digitization Project

The thesis examined the differences between the Chinese market, a fast-growing emerging market, and that of the United States, a well-known developed market. In order to understand the overall performance of the Chinese stock market, the research compared the risk and returns characteristics of Chinese stock markets using the S & P 500 Index for the 2000-2005 period. Findings show that significant differences exist between the Chinese and the U.S. markets. The thesis also attempted to identify the characteristics of the Chinese markets that hinder their efficiency.

Real Estate Mutual Funds: A Style Analysis, Crystal Lin, Kenneth Yung

Finance Faculty Publications

We find that the characteristics of real estate related securities are different from those of the general common equities. To help investors understand better the products offered by real estate mutual funds, we develop style descriptors that are specifically created for real estate related securities. Among the universe of real estate securities, we find real estate funds tilt toward large stocks and favor growth moderately over value. Growth managers outperform value mangers in this sector by 1.51% to 2.30% per year. However, there is evidence of shifts in the investment style among the funds. Our results help investors in evaluating …

Abnormal Trading Volume, Stock Returns And The Momentum Effects, Ying Zheng

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

This paper intends to study the intermediate-term momentum and long-term reversal of stock prices by investigating the informational role of unusual trading volume for winner and loser stocks. I argue that unusual trading volume has different implications for winner and loser stocks. Specifically, high trading volume for losers is driven by purchases made by informed investors; while high trade volume for winners could be driven by either information or representativeness bias or both. The arguments are tested in the paper by showing that in the short run, losers/winners with high abnormal trading volume outperform losers/winners with low abnormal trading volume; …

Performance Measures: Traditional Versus New Models, Hasan Zafer Yuksel

Theses Digitization Project

The thesis analyzed the performance of 5,987 mutual funds using a database called Steele Mutual Fund Experts and compared the predicting ability of various measures of performance. The measures discussed in the thesis are Treynor Ratio, Sharpe Ratio, Jensen's Alpha, Graham-Harvey-1 (GH-1), and Graham-Harvey-2 (GH-2). The performance measures are mostly used by professional money managers and scholars for literary purposes.

Analysis Of Trade Dependence And Correlation Of Market Returns To Hedge Portfolio Risk, Carl Eric Zeise

Theses Digitization Project

The project examines the relationship between trade interdependency and correlation of market returns between the United States and the four emerging economies of Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines. The author analyzed statistical data for trade interdependency and market return to determine if there is a pattern that would provide the basis for increasing the return of a security portfolio without increasing the risk to the investor. The project analysis relied on mathematical formulas to measure the trade relationships between the selected countries and to calculate the measure of return and measure of risk of investing in each emergent market.

Emerging Stock Markets In Europe, The Middle East, And Asia, Man Ching Ko

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this research is to evaluate the performance of the emerging stock markets in three regions. The regions chosen as our testing targets are Europe, The Middle East, and Asia. Performance for 2002 to 2004 will be compared to the U.S. stock market.

Portfolio Optimization Analysis Of Federation Of Euro-Asian Stock Exchances (Feas), Selim Larlar

Theses Digitization Project

The results of this thesis suggest that investors should invest in portfolios consisting of the Standard and Poor's 500, the Ten Composite Index and the ten founding stock exchanges, rather than only invest in either the ten founding stock exchanges or Standard and Poor's 500.

The Structure, Functioning, And Performance Of The Chinese Stock Markets, Yu-Tsui Lin

Theses Digitization Project

This thesis focuses on the stocks in two major stock exchanges in China: the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. In order to understand the overall performance of the Chinese stock markets, the research compares the performance among Chinese stock markets, other emerging stock markets, and the S&P 500 Index during the 1990's.

Are Sri Funds Different From Non-Sri Funds, From A Financial Asset Perspective?: Evidence From Some Australian Sri Funds, Ingebjørg Kristoffersen

Theses : Honours

Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) has seen a remarkable growth in recent years – primarily in the US and UK, but also in other markets including Australia. This growth, along with the development of corporate social responsibility, is suggested to be a result of increased awareness in social, environment and human rights issues. The literature offers several suggestions as to how SRIs and SRI funds may differ from other investments, as financial assets. It has been suggested that SRIs are more likely to represent smaller stocks, and also more likely represent growth rather than value stocks compared to non-SRIs. Furthermore, different …

International Portfolio Diversification With Special Reference To Emerging Markets, Joseline Chimhini

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This study evaluates the potential benefits that investors obtain from diversifying their portfolios into emerging markets when the time varying behavior of assets is considered. It also tests whether the existing asset-pricing model developed in the context of developed markets, which assumes complete integration, can explain the expected returns in emerging markets and determines the risk of investing in these markets using cross section and time series data. An international capital asset pricing model (ICAPM) with time varying moments developed by Harvey (1991) is adopted. The conditional asset-pricing model, which takes into account prevailing world economic factors, was used. The …

Accounting Information And The Underpricing Of Indonesian Initial Public Offerings, Tatang Ary Gumanti

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The purpose of this study is to examine the relation between accounting measures of total firm risk and the magnitudes of IPO initial returns. The existing explanations of the underpricing of lPO's suggests that the extent of underpricing is positively related to ex ante uncertainty about the issues. This study argues that accounting risk measures are related to the ex ante uncertainty. Since ex ante uncertainty is positively related to IPO underpricing, accounting risk measures are also arguably related to IPO underpricing. An event methodology is employed in this study. Five accounting risk measures are examined: financial leverage, operating leverage, …

Reverse Lbo Underpricing: Information Asymmetry Or Price Support, Gregory Noronha, Kenneth Yung

Finance Faculty Publications

Most studies attribute the underpricing of initial public offerings of equity securities to the ex ante uncertainty resulting from the information differential between the firm going public and the market. Ruud (1991, 1993), however, proposes that underpricing could result from underwriter price support in the early after-market. A paper examines firms that were once public, went private via leveraged buyout, and then went public again. It is reasonable to expect that since these reverse LBOs (RLBO) were once publicly traded, they should have less of an information differential with the market than firms going public for the 1st time. Tests …