We argue that the CAPM may be a reasonable model for estimating the cost of capital for projects in spite of increasing empirical evidence in the literature against the CAPM based on stock returns. As McDonald and Siegel (1985) and Berk, Green and Naik (1999) point out, stocks are backed by...

This paper examines the informativeness of analysts' target price forecasts by relating the investment value of target prices to their primary drivers. Decomposing target price forecasts into near-term earnings forecasts and price-to-earnings ratio forecasts, we show that target price revisions...

We study the determinants of corporate investment growth in the U.S. We use accounting identities to develop a system in which unexpected changes in investment growth are decomposed into surprises to current earnings growth, surprises to current stock returns, revisions of expectations about...

We argue that the empirical evidence against the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) based on stock returns does not invalidate its use for estimating the cost of capital for projects in making capital budgeting decisions. Since stocks are backed not only by projects in place, but also the...

Coval and Moskowitz (1999) report that proximity influences investment. We extend the measurement of proximity beyond distance and report that air travel reduces local investment bias. This result is confi rmed using the initiation of connecting flights through recently opened air hubs since...

We study the determinants of aggregate corporate investment in the U.S. We use accounting identities to develop a system in which (i) news about future cash flows and news about future discount rates are directly estimated, thus mitigating measurement problems with Tobin's q, the variable that...