A great number of academic papers evaluate the potential for incentive-driven bias in sell-side analysts' earnings forecasts. Yet bias does not necessarily invalidate a forecast, nor does it impinge on its relative quality. We find that analysts' forecasts are optimistic relative to recently...

We find evidence for the beta anomaly in mutual fund performance. This anomaly is not accounted for in the standard four-factor framework, nor by the addition of a BAB factor to the benchmark model. We identify the active component of alpha (i.e., active alpha) not attributable to the passive...

Taxes have a first-order impact on portfolio returns. Most research mistakenly assumes that portfolios command similar tax burdens, or that tax burdens are proportional to dividend yields. Portfolio strategies differ in the pace of capital gains realization. We use the federal tax codes from...

We revisit the role of liquidity risk. We successfully replicate Pastor and Stambaugh's (2003) gamma liquidity risk index and, within their time period, concur with their risk premium estimate. An out-of-their-time-period analysis finds post-time-period returns that are higher and...