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Behavioral and Rational Explanations of Stock Price Performance around SEOs: Evidence from a Decomposition of Market-to-Book Ratios

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 June 2010

Michael G. Hertzel
Affiliation:
Carey School of Business, Arizona State University, PO Box 873906, Tempe, AZ 85287. michael.hertzel@asu.edu
Zhi Li
Affiliation:
Freeman School of Business, Tulane University, 7 McAlister Dr., New Orleans, LA 70118. zli1@tulane.edu

Abstract

We examine the extent to which investment opportunities and/or mispricing motivate equity issuance and contribute to post-issue stock underperformance. We decompose market-to-book ratios into misvaluation and growth option components and find that issuing firms are both overvalued and have greater growth opportunities relative to nonissuers. Firms with greater growth opportunities invest more in capital expenditures and research and development (R&D) after issuance but do not experience lower post-issue stock returns. In contrast, issuing firms with greater mispricing tend to decrease long-term debt and/or increase cash holdings and do earn lower returns. Our findings are consistent with behavioral explanations for post-issue stock price underperformance.

Type
Research Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Michael G. Foster School of Business, University of Washington 2010

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