We find that increases in implied market volatility (a proxy for market fear) have a significant impact on returns of bank stocks, above and beyond systematic risk proxied by the expected excess market return during a bad economic regime. Large bank returns are favorably affected by increases in...

We design an empirical model to determine the prior probability of a bank becoming an acquisition target. We find that the probability of a bank being acquired is higher for banks that are larger, have a lower return on assets, a higher capital level, more non-performing loans, higher run-up in...

Valuation effects of insurers' security offerings are examined by measuring the share price response to announcements of impending security issues. Insurers exhibit unique characteristics that can cause the signal emitted by their security offerings to differ from that of other firms. An event...

Previous research on the returns to real estate investment trusts (REITs) has considered whether or not REITs are systematically exposed to general stock market risk and interest rate risk. This study examines how the sensitivity of REIT returns to these factors may be influenced by various REIT...

The purpose of this study is to determine what firm-specific factors affect the risk of insurance companies. Traditional methods used to identify potential failures have been severely criticized. Thus, alternative approaches to risk assessment should be of interst to investors and managers of...

We find that profit-warning announcements elicit a strong negative market response that is not sensitive to timing of the warning in advance of the earnings announcement. Share prices begin to adjust about five days before a profit warning, and the market response is not complete until about...

This study finds that downward earnings restatements are associated with negative industry valuation effects. These effects are more pronounced when the valuation effects and the change in earnings of the firm restating its earnings are worse, when the restatement is initiated for reasons other...

The price discount on privately placed stock is large and can vary substantially among firms. While earlier studies attribute price discounts on privately placed stock to illiquidity and costs of gathering information, we offer a more complete explanation. We find that firms exhibiting higher...