This paper investigates whether conflicts of interest exist between the research and proprietary trading departments of full-service investment banks. Using a data set of 11,590 analyst stock recommendations over the period 1999-2007, we find that in the period preceding the Global Research...

This study examines the earnings management behaviour of 455 distressed US firms that filed for bankruptcy during the period 1986-2001. We examine (a) possible earnings management during the years prior to bankruptc-filing, (b) whether qualified audit opinions cause conservative earnings...

This study extends the Grullon, Michaely and Swaminathan (2002) analysis by incorporating default risk. Using data for firms that either increased or initiated cash dividend payments during the 23-year period 1986-2008, we find reduction in default risk. This reduction is shown to be a priced...

We examine the empirical properties of the theoretical Black–Scholes–Merton (BSM) bankruptcy model. We evaluate the predictive ability of various existing modifications of the BSM model and extend prior studies by estimating volatility directly from market-observable returns on firm value.We...

Due to the paucity of sources of negative firm-specific information, US capital markets have more difficulty identifying and incorporating bad news into stock prices than they do good news. Even though insider selling is a potentially important proxy for undisclosed bad news, researchers have...

We investigate the reasons for there being an apparent limit to the accuracy of valuation using multiples, when it is implemented in a standard way. We find that most of the error comes from failing to correct known biases in earnings forecasts. Another part comes from mismatching observable...

This paper shows that firm growth potential – representing a firm's yet-unexercised growth opportunities – is associated with option overpricing and low future delta-hedged option returns. We provide an explanation of this phenomenon based on the idea that retail investors exert buying...