Stock Price Behavior Around Announcements of Write-Offs

Eli Bartov1, Frederick W. Lindahl2, William E. Ricks3
1Leonard N. Stern School of Business, New York University, USA
2School of Business and Public Management, George Washington University, USA
3Rosenberg Institutional Equity Management, USA

Tóm tắt

Is it plausible that important corporate events such as write-offs, averaging around 20% of firms' market values, are associated with stock-price responses of less than 1%? We investigate this question by observing a lengthy period before and after the announcement date. We find, as suggested by previous studies, that price declines precede write-off announcements. We find what has not been found before: abnormal returns continue to decline after the announcement by as much as 21% annually for a two-year period. This significant stock-price underperformance is also observed around subsequent earnings announcements, and is robust to various risk-adjustment techniques. Our findings are important on two counts: they (1) suggest that disclosure standards may not be sufficient to allow market agents to understand the economic consequences of the write-offs, and (2) reveal a substantial mispricing, which is inconsistent with market efficiency.

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Tài liệu tham khảo

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