In this study we use a comprehensive database of mutual funds and study performance persistence across different styles, regions, and asset classes. While we find strong evidence of performance persistence for some markets, there is weak or no evidence for other markets. Contrary to popular...

Using a sample of domestic U.S. equity mutual funds, we find strong evidence that investors respond to managerial replacements. We find that the top performing funds that have a change in management subsequently have lower flows compared to funds of which the manager is retained. On top of that,...

Various studies recommend investing in factor premiums beyond the classic market risk premium, such as the small-cap, value, momentum, and low-volatility premiums. It is unclear, however, if factor investing can best be implemented using a long-only or a long-short approach. We empirically...

High (low) quality stocks generate anomalously high (low) returns above and beyond expected returns based on betas, market sizes, valuations, and momentum. We provide a comprehensive overview of commonly used quality definitions and test their predictive power for stock returns. We show that...

Conventional short-term reversal strategies exhibit dynamic exposures to the Fama and French (1993) factors. We develop a novel reversal strategy based on residual stock returns that does not exhibit these exposures and consequently earns risk-adjusted returns that are twice as large as those of...

Investing in financial securities inevitably involves risks on the one hand and opportunities on the other hand. This thesis bundles four different studies on risks and/or opportunities in financial markets. In one study, we examine the cross-sectional explanatory power of different...

This study analyzes various measures of the downside beta of stocks. Downside beta is sometimes defined and estimated in different ways. Theoretically, an approach based on the mean-semi-variance equilibrium model appears superior. Two known alternative approaches are not consistent with the...

Downside risk, when properly defined and estimated, helps to explain the cross-section of US stock returns. Sorting stocks by a proper estimate of downside market beta leads to a substantially larger cross-sectional spread in average returns than sorting on regular market beta. This result...

Hedge funds are fundamentally exposed to equity volatility, skewness, and kurtosis risks basedon the systematic pattern and significant spread in alphas from the existing models that do notcontrol for the higher-moment risks. The spread and pattern in alphas do not disappear withbootstrap...