(1) Problem Defi nition: Banks commonly use asset-based lending (ABL) to provide loans collateralized by a borrower firm's inventory. We study the implications of ABL by examining how banks should determine asset-based loan terms based on fi rms' operational characteristics (e.g., inventory...

We find that inventory productivity strongly predicts future stock returns among a sample of publicly listed U.S. retailers during the period from 1985 to 2010. A zero-cost portfolio investment strategy, which consists of buying from the two highest and selling from the two lowest quintiles...