This study investigates the predictability of stock market returns using a novel corporate investment measure that captures the lumpiness of firm-level investment. We find that the proportion of firms with investment spikes ("spike") is a strong predictor of excess stock returns. Specifically,...

We study the effects of uncertainty on corporate leverage adjustments with respect to investment spikes and find that overlevered and underlevered firms behave very differently in response to the combination of uncertainty and investment spikes. Overlevered firms facing high uncertainty converge...

This article presents one of the most comprehensive studies to date to employ filtering techniques to distinguish between routine and "investment spike" financing. This study documents significant heterogeneity in investment spike financing, particularly by firm size. Further, when spike size or...