This paper provides evidence that the positive relation between firm-level stock returns and firm-level return volatility is due to real options that firms possess. Consistent with the theoretical prediction that the value of a real option should be increasing in the volatility of the underlying...

This paper shows that the stock market misprices firms' investment options. We build a real options model of optimal investment under uncertainty to estimate the value of firms' investment options. We show that firms with valuable investment options have a higher likelihood of being mispriced....