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Title: THE EFFICIENT MARKETS HYPOTHESIS AS IT APPLIES TO SECURITIES.
Creator: MCCARTHY, JOSEPH MICHAEL., Florida Atlantic University, Stronge, William B., College of Business, Department of Economics
Abstract/Description: This thesis deals with the efficient markets hypothesis as it applies to the securities market. The first chapter provides the various forms of the EMH and its theoretical basis. Chapter two analyzes the weak form of the EMH and the major empirical contributions concerning it. Chapter three presents the strong forms of the EMH. It is concluded on the basis of a substantial and consistent body of analysis that efficient is an accurate description of the securities market.
Date Issued: 1980
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/14035
Subject Headings: Investment analysis
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: EXAMINATION OF PORTFOLIO PERFORMANCE USING DIFFERENT TRADING RULES.
Creator: HENNIGS, GABRIEL PEREZ., Florida Atlantic University, Redman, Milton, College of Business, Department of Economics
Abstract/Description: This thesis uses a fundamentalist approach to portfolio selection similar to that proposed by Benjamin Graham. The purpose is to examine the existence of undervalued securities and to test a methodology designed to identify those that could be considered superior investments. The model designed to select, combine and evaluate performance on risk adjusted basis takes into consideration fundamental principles of modern portfolio theory. Specifically, this analysis evaluates the informational...
Show moreThis thesis uses a fundamentalist approach to portfolio selection similar to that proposed by Benjamin Graham. The purpose is to examine the existence of undervalued securities and to test a methodology designed to identify those that could be considered superior investments. The model designed to select, combine and evaluate performance on risk adjusted basis takes into consideration fundamental principles of modern portfolio theory. Specifically, this analysis evaluates the informational contribution of price earnings ratios, earnings growth and dividend payments. The hypothesis tested is that undervalued securities selected under the conditions here proposed can produce performance results consistently superior than those of a strategy based on passively holding a market portfolio.
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Date Issued: 1984
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/14228
Subject Headings: Portfolio management, Investment analysis
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Governance and earnings management surrounding dividend initiation.
Creator: Smith, Deborah Drummond., College of Business, Department of Finance
Abstract/Description: Essay I: Governance surrounding dividend initiation. According to the free cash flow hypothesis, managers prefer to invest surplus cash, even in value reducing projects, rather than release it to shareholders. Yet, previous studies of dividend payout conclude that managers pay more in dividends when they are entrenched, supporting the substitute model... The results indicate that initiating firms have stronger shareholder rights, in contrast with much of the prior research on continuous...
Show moreEssay I: Governance surrounding dividend initiation. According to the free cash flow hypothesis, managers prefer to invest surplus cash, even in value reducing projects, rather than release it to shareholders. Yet, previous studies of dividend payout conclude that managers pay more in dividends when they are entrenched, supporting the substitute model... The results indicate that initiating firms have stronger shareholder rights, in contrast with much of the prior research on continuous divident payout. Firms with lower entrenchment index are more likely to initiate dividends... Essay II: Earnings management surrounding dividend initiation. Prior research tests earnings management surrounding changes in dividend payout and researchers conclude that the earnings management is a means of amplifying the dividend signal to the market. However, dividend initiation is a unique event. If initiation represents signaling, similar to a dividend increase, then management will manage earnings upward. If, on the other hand, divident initiation is better explained by the free cash flow hypothesis, then initiation may be entered into with caution or reluctance by management.
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Date Issued: 2012
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/3362041
Subject Headings: Investment analysis, Portfolio management, Dividends, Econometric models
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The role of asset reliability and auditor quality in equity valuation.
Creator: Fallatah, Yaser., Florida Atlantic University, Higgs, Julia
Abstract/Description: This paper brings together the auditor quality, asset reliability and firm valuation literatures by examining the role of auditor quality in equity valuation. The study broadly follows the Richardson et al. (2005) categorization of the reliability of accounting accruals of balance sheet components and conjectures that the role of auditor quality in equity valuation is more pronounced when asset reliability is not high. Auditor quality is measured using reputation, industry specialist and...
Show moreThis paper brings together the auditor quality, asset reliability and firm valuation literatures by examining the role of auditor quality in equity valuation. The study broadly follows the Richardson et al. (2005) categorization of the reliability of accounting accruals of balance sheet components and conjectures that the role of auditor quality in equity valuation is more pronounced when asset reliability is not high. Auditor quality is measured using reputation, industry specialist and tenure metrics. The underlying assumption is that auditor quality enhances the market's perception of firm value; as such, auditor quality may mitigate the cost of security mispricing documented by Richardson et al. (2005) for low or medium reliability accruals. The results of the study provide some support that high quality auditors contribute to the valuation of equity for assets. It is less clear as to whether the value is more pronounced for low or medium reliability assets.
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Date Issued: 2006
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/12231
Subject Headings: Auditing--Quality control, Econometrics, Investment analysis
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Essays on Actively Managed Mutual Funds.
Creator: Kaushik, Abhay, Barnhart, Scott W., Florida Atlantic University
Abstract/Description: In this dissertation, I examine three main issues in mutual fund research: 1) the performance of "sector funds" over the business cycles; 2) the performance and managerial characteristics of "focus funds" and finally 3) the impact of taxes and tax overhang on flow of funds & performance of "corporate bond funds". My first essay analyzes the performance of sector funds across different stages of business cycles. Using a sample of 1,488 sector funds over the period 1990 to 2005, I demonstrate...
Show moreIn this dissertation, I examine three main issues in mutual fund research: 1) the performance of "sector funds" over the business cycles; 2) the performance and managerial characteristics of "focus funds" and finally 3) the impact of taxes and tax overhang on flow of funds & performance of "corporate bond funds". My first essay analyzes the performance of sector funds across different stages of business cycles. Using a sample of 1,488 sector funds over the period 1990 to 2005, I demonstrate that sector funds perform differently across different stages in the business cycles. Average difference between expansion and recession cycles ranges from 2.75 percent per year to 3.78 percent per year. Findings of this essay further suggest that sector funds do exhibit different timing effects across recessions and expansions. Flow of funds and buy turnover ratio have differential effects across business cycles whereas sell turnover trading activities have a negative effect on funds' overall performance. My second essay analyzes the performance of "focus funds". These funds are well managed but tend to keep 50 or less stocks in their portfolio. Using a sample of 926 focus funds that existed during all or part of the period 1997 to 2006, I find that on average focus funds do not outperform a corresponding passive benchmark. My results further indicate that focus funds that are more concentrated in their top holdings, have larger net asset size, relatively young management and lower turnover ratios may offer higher abnormal returns compared to passive benchmarks. The third essay analyzes the effect of taxes and tax overhang on the flow of funds and performance in bond funds. Using a sample of 741 corporate bond funds that existed at some time during the period 1997 to 2006, findings of this essay indicate that new investors to bond funds are sensitive to unrealized capital gains/losses, however, the flow of funds is not affected by past dividend distributions. Findings further indicate that tax liabilities, unrealized gains/losses, and managerial tenure explain post-tax abnormal performance after controlling for investment style, and other known factors that explain the pre-tax performance ofbond funds.
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Date Issued: 2007
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00000307
Subject Headings: Mutual funds--Management, Investment analysis
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Three essays on the impact of analyst recommendations in the banking industry.
Creator: Premti, Arjan, Madura, Jeff, Florida Atlantic University, College of Business, Department of Finance
Abstract/Description: By analyzing the information provided by analyst recommendations in the banking industry, I find that analyst recommendations trigger an immediate impact on the value of banks (Essay 1), they profitably guide the investment decisions of investors for periods of up to three months (Essay 2), and they also have an immediate impact on the values of rival banks (Essay 3). In addition, I find that analysts’ ability to provide new information depends on the information environment of the bank. The...
Show moreBy analyzing the information provided by analyst recommendations in the banking industry, I find that analyst recommendations trigger an immediate impact on the value of banks (Essay 1), they profitably guide the investment decisions of investors for periods of up to three months (Essay 2), and they also have an immediate impact on the values of rival banks (Essay 3). In addition, I find that analysts’ ability to provide new information depends on the information environment of the bank. The degree of information asymmetry, the degree of complexity, the risk of the bank, the risk of the time period, as well as regulatory reforms that affect these characteristics, have a significant impact on the analyst’s ability to provide new information to the investors. Specifically, I find that analyst recommendations are more informative when banks suffer from a high degree of information asymmetry. In addition, regulatory reforms that reduced the information asymmetry of the banking industry also diminished the analyst’s ability to provide new information. Similarly, I find that analyst recommendations have a greater impact on the values of the rated and the rival banks when these banks operate in a risky environment. This result is robust to several measures of bank risk, period risk, and regulatory events that affected the risk of the banking industry. However, the results of Essay 2 show that positive recommendations that occur during riskier periods or after regulatory events that increased the risk of the banking industry result in lower value for the investors over the following 1-month or 3- month periods. Lastly, I find that as banks become more complex, analyst recommendations have a smaller immediate impact on the value of the bank, deliver a smaller investment value for the investors, and also have a smaller immediate impact on the value of the rival banks.
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Date Issued: 2014
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004151, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004151
Subject Headings: Financial engineering, Investment analysis, Portfolio management, Risk management
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The value relevance of accounting numbers and the implications for international accounting standards harmonization: Evidence from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
Creator: Alsalman, Ahmad M., Florida Atlantic University, Skantz, Terrance R.
Abstract/Description: This study examines whether accounting standards or institutional factors are the prime determinants of differences in value relevance of accounting numbers across countries. The motivation for this study arises from ongoing accounting harmonization efforts to increase the comparability of financial reporting across countries. Proponents of harmonization agree that investors support the need for comparability. Opponents, on the other hand, argue that efforts toward a common set of accounting...
Show moreThis study examines whether accounting standards or institutional factors are the prime determinants of differences in value relevance of accounting numbers across countries. The motivation for this study arises from ongoing accounting harmonization efforts to increase the comparability of financial reporting across countries. Proponents of harmonization agree that investors support the need for comparability. Opponents, on the other hand, argue that efforts toward a common set of accounting standards worldwide may not achieve comparability as long as economical, cultural, and political differences exist across countries. So, the question is whether the application of common accounting standards result in enhanced comparability of financial statements, given that firms operate in different countries with different regulatory and cultural influences. This study examines the relationship between reported financial figures and both stock prices and returns across Saudi, Kuwait, the U.S., and U.S. listed firms that use international accounting standards (IAS-sample) to determine whether there are differences in the value relevance of their accounting numbers. Saudi and Kuwait have similar environments. However, they use different GAAPs. Saudi uses U.S. GAAP and Kuwait uses IAS. As a benchmark, this study uses samples of firms that use U.S. GAAP, and that use IAS, with both samples listing in the U.S. capital market. To determine whether accounting standards play a large role in differences in value relevance across these countries, four comparisons are performed: (1) Saudi and the U.S.; (2) Kuwait and IAS-sample; (3) Saudi and Kuwait; and (4) the U.S. and IAS-sample. The results show that there are significant differences in the value relevance between countries that apply the same standards but have different institutional factors. On the other hand, there are no significant differences, in most cases, in the value relevance between countries that apply different standards but operate in a similar environment. Moreover, this study attempts to determine whether earnings conservatism differs across these countries. This study provides evidence that institutional factors affect the differences in earnings conservatism. The findings of this study suggest that international harmonization of accounting standards may not be easily accomplished because institutional factors play an influential role in information dissemination.
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Date Issued: 2003
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FADT12079
Subject Headings: Accounting--Standards, Financial statements--Standards, Investment analysis--Saudi Arabia, Investment analysis--Kuwait, International economic relations--Standards, Strategic alliances (Business)--Middle East
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Delivery failure close-out: an event study on the effects of newly adopted regulation SHO amendments.
Creator: Scherle, Richard., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
Abstract/Description: A generally illegal form of short selling in United States equity markets, called "naked shorting," occurs when a seller of stock sells shares that do not exist. This type of short selling has negative consequences that result from the tactic's ability to be used as a tool to artificially inflate an issuer's stock supply, which introduces significant harm to the integrity of the market's natural forces of supply and demand. Newly adopted amendments to the Securities and Exchange Commission's...
Show moreA generally illegal form of short selling in United States equity markets, called "naked shorting," occurs when a seller of stock sells shares that do not exist. This type of short selling has negative consequences that result from the tactic's ability to be used as a tool to artificially inflate an issuer's stock supply, which introduces significant harm to the integrity of the market's natural forces of supply and demand. Newly adopted amendments to the Securities and Exchange Commission's short sale governance regulation, called Regulation SHO, required the mandatory purchasing of shares by certain market participants in order for those participants to close-out previously excused delivery failures, called "grandfathered" failures. This study examines the consequences of this new regulation, in terms of share price and volume, for those few securities that had the most persistent delivery failure problems. Because the regulation mandates the purchase of shares by certain influential market participants, I examine if the stock markets of these securities exhibited unusual volatility which may be indicative of the market maker trying to cover at low cost. Using technical analysis techniques, such as volume surge detection (using moving volume averages), the performance of the target securities will be compared with appropriate benchmark indices for the purpose of detecting unusual activity. Unusual activity may be consistent with my hypothesis that market makers may encourage additional volatility to cause liquidity problems for marginal investors which forces them to sell part or all of their position. As discussed in great detail, the extra marginal shares injected into the market by the action of forced selling by these marginal investors may be used by the market makers to lower their cost of regulation compliance.
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Date Issued: 2008
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/210002
Subject Headings: Securities industry, Investment analysis, Short selling, Capitalism, Moral and ethical aspects
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Essays on investing.
Creator: Johnson, William Fount III, College of Business, Department of Finance
Abstract/Description: The Market Timing - Buy and Hold (MT-BH) is introduced, tested against widely accepted performance models of market timing and tested if implamentation is possible. The MT-BH metric measures the condition of engaging in market timing strategies relative to buy and hold investing across an equity market. The metric provides an alternative explanation to why market timing results of investors and managers vary through time and across different equity markets. This dissertation examines how the...
Show moreThe Market Timing - Buy and Hold (MT-BH) is introduced, tested against widely accepted performance models of market timing and tested if implamentation is possible. The MT-BH metric measures the condition of engaging in market timing strategies relative to buy and hold investing across an equity market. The metric provides an alternative explanation to why market timing results of investors and managers vary through time and across different equity markets. This dissertation examines how the is correlated with traditional market timing measures of the Treynor and Sharpe ratios over the 1995-2010 time period and how it affects widely used measures of regression based market timing models of Treynor- Mazuy and Henriksson-Merton. The Market Timing - Buy and Hold (MT-BH) metric can be applied to any equity market over any time period to condition the market timing skill of money managers in any equity market around the world. The final accomplishment of this dissertation is to determine if readily available finance and macro-economic variables can help investors determine which years are more favorable to pursue market timing strategies and which years favor buy and hold investing. When real GDP growth rates, inflation rates and PE ratios were low or negative and when dividend yields were high, market timing strategies were favorable across 44 country market indexes from 1994-2008. These results were robust to country level of development, negative market return years and other control variables. The conditions for pursing market timing strategies were time variant and detectable with macro-economic and finance variables. The MT-BH metric allows investors and brokers to determine when to switch from buy and hold investing to a market timing strategy using macro-economic and financial variables and helps to explain why market timing skill of managers is rarely found to be persistent.
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Date Issued: 2011
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3183131
Subject Headings: Investment analysis, Stock options, Portfolio management, Finance, Personal, Asset allocation, Assets (Accounting), Prices, Forecasting, Econometric models
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Earnings management around IPO lockup expiration and the role of auditors.
Creator: Hao, Lizhong., College of Business, School of Accounting
Abstract/Description: I examine the presence of earnings management at pre-IPO and lockup periods. Motivated by significant post-lockup insider sales documented in prior research, I investigate whether insiders (managers and venture capitalists) inflate earnings around the lockup period in order to increase share price and maximize personal wealth from selling shares at lockup expiration. I also compare levels of earnings management in the pre-IPO and lockup periods with those in the post-lockup period. Prior...
Show moreI examine the presence of earnings management at pre-IPO and lockup periods. Motivated by significant post-lockup insider sales documented in prior research, I investigate whether insiders (managers and venture capitalists) inflate earnings around the lockup period in order to increase share price and maximize personal wealth from selling shares at lockup expiration. I also compare levels of earnings management in the pre-IPO and lockup periods with those in the post-lockup period. Prior research also documents that auditor quality mitigates earnings management behavior. I explore the impact of auditor quality in the unique setting of IPO lockups. ... Cross-sectional analysis reveals that my sample IPO firms also utilize real-activities manipulation, but only in the early pre-IPO period. The results are robust with respect to alternative abnormal accruals and real-activities measures. I also find that IPO firms that hire prestigious auditors experience less earnings management in the lockup period than firms with lower-quality auditors, after controlling for the monitoring role of venture capitalist and underwriter reputation.
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Date Issued: 2013
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/3362378
Subject Headings: Going public (Securities), Business forecasting, Organizational effectiveness, Investment analysis, Portfolio management
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Modeling and simulating interest rates via time-dependent mean reversion.
Creator: Dweck, Andrew Jason, Long, Hongwei, Florida Atlantic University, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Mathematical Sciences
Abstract/Description: The purpose of this thesis is to compare the effectiveness of several interest rate models in fitting the true value of interest rates. Up until 1990, the universally accepted models were the equilibrium models, namely the Rendleman-Bartter model, the Vasicek model, and the Cox-Ingersoll-Ross (CIR) model. While these models were probably considered relatively accurate around the time of their discovery, they do not provide a good fit to the initial term structure of interest rates, making...
Show moreThe purpose of this thesis is to compare the effectiveness of several interest rate models in fitting the true value of interest rates. Up until 1990, the universally accepted models were the equilibrium models, namely the Rendleman-Bartter model, the Vasicek model, and the Cox-Ingersoll-Ross (CIR) model. While these models were probably considered relatively accurate around the time of their discovery, they do not provide a good fit to the initial term structure of interest rates, making them substandard for use by traders in pricing interest rate options. The fourth model we consider is the Hull-White one-factor model, which does provide this fit. After calibrating, simulating, and comparing these four models, we find that the Hull-White model gives the best fit to our data sets.
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Date Issued: 2014
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004103, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004103
Subject Headings: Game theory, Investment analysis, Options (Finance), Recursive functions, Stochastic differential equations
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The effect of shareholder rights and information asymmetry on option-related repurchase activity.
Creator: Golden, Nan, Kohlbeck, Mark, Florida Atlantic University, College of Business, School of Accounting
Abstract/Description: I investigate the effect of shareholder rights and information asymmetry on option-related repurchase activity. Prior research shows that the dilution effect of the exercise of the employee stock options on earnings per share (EPS) decreases the value of stock options. Thus, managers tend to use stock repurchases rather than dividends to return cash to shareholders (the dividend substitution effect). I document that the executive stock option incentives to repurchase stock as a substitute for...
Show moreI investigate the effect of shareholder rights and information asymmetry on option-related repurchase activity. Prior research shows that the dilution effect of the exercise of the employee stock options on earnings per share (EPS) decreases the value of stock options. Thus, managers tend to use stock repurchases rather than dividends to return cash to shareholders (the dividend substitution effect). I document that the executive stock option incentives to repurchase stock as a substitute for dividends are stronger when firms have weak shareholder rights and the level of information asymmetry positively influences managerial stock option incentives to repurchase stock. Furthermore, prior research indicates that information asymmetry is positively associated with stock repurchases. I also provide evidence indicating that the relationship between information asymmetry and stock repurchases is stronger when firms have weaker shareholder rights.
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Date Issued: 2015
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004373, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004373
Subject Headings: Corporate governance, Corporations -- Finance, Dividends -- Econometric models, Employee stock options, Investment analysis, Stock options -- Econometric models
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The role of advertising and information asymmetry on firm performance.
Creator: Fine, Monica B., College of Business, Department of Marketing
Abstract/Description: Research linking marketing to financial outputs has been gaining significance in the marketing discipline. The pertinent questions are, therefore: how can marketing improve measures of firm performance and draw potential investors to the company, and where is the quantitative proof to back up these assertions? This research investigates the role of marketing expenditures in the context of initial public offerings (IPOs). The proposed theoretical framework comes from marketing and finance...
Show moreResearch linking marketing to financial outputs has been gaining significance in the marketing discipline. The pertinent questions are, therefore: how can marketing improve measures of firm performance and draw potential investors to the company, and where is the quantitative proof to back up these assertions? This research investigates the role of marketing expenditures in the context of initial public offerings (IPOs). The proposed theoretical framework comes from marketing and finance literature, and uses econometric models to test the hypotheses. First, we replicate the results of a previous study by Luo (2008) showing a relationship between the firm's pre-IPO marketing spending and IPO underpricing. Next, we extend the previous study by looking at the IPO's long-run returns, types of risk, analyst coverage, and market/industry characteristics. The results of this study, based on a sample of 2,103 IPOs from 1996 to 2008, suggest that increased marketing spending positively impac ts firm performance. We examine different measures of firm performance, such as risk and long-run performance, whose results are important to the firm, its shareholders, and potential investors. This study analyzes the impact marketing spending has on IPO characteristics (IPO underpricing in the short-run and cumulative abnormal returns in the long run); risk characteristics (systematic, unsystematic, bankruptcy risk, and total risk); analyst coverage characteristics (the number of analysts, optimistic coverage, and forecast error) and market characteristics (market volatility and industry type). We control for variables such as firm size, profitability, and IPO characteristics. In this paper, the results show that increased marketing spending lowers underpricing, lowers bankruptcy risk, lowers total risk, leads to greater analyst coverage, leads to more favorable analyst coverage, and lowers analyst forecast error. For theory, this paper advances the literature on the, marketing-financ e interface by extending the market-based assets and signaling theories. For practice, the results indicate that spending more money on marketing before the IPO and disclosing this information produces positive bottom-line results for the firm. KEYWORDS: Marketing-Finance, Risk, Financial Analysts, Marketing Spending, Firm Performance, Marketing Strategy Meets Wall Street, Long-Run Firm Performance, Underpricing, Stock Recommendations, Initial Public Offering, Marketing Strategy, Econometric Model.
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Date Issued: 2012
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3342050
Subject Headings: Investment analysis, Organizational effectiveness, Measurement, Advertising, Financial services industry, Marketing, Financial services industry, Computer network resources
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The effect of income-increasing earnings management on analysts' responses.
Creator: Sankara, Jomo., College of Business, School of Accounting
Abstract/Description: As a consequence of financial analysts' joint role as information intermediaries and firm monitors, I investigate analysts' responses to opportunistic corporate earnings management as firm mispricing increases. While firms' management have capital markets and executive equity incentives to manage earnings, financial analysts have trading volume, investment banking, and management information incentives which result in analysts' optimism bias. However, prior research also finds that analysts...
Show moreAs a consequence of financial analysts' joint role as information intermediaries and firm monitors, I investigate analysts' responses to opportunistic corporate earnings management as firm mispricing increases. While firms' management have capital markets and executive equity incentives to manage earnings, financial analysts have trading volume, investment banking, and management information incentives which result in analysts' optimism bias. However, prior research also finds that analysts have reputational incentives, which motivate them to provide accurate and profitable outlooks. Using a generalized linear model (GLM), I estimate analysts' stock recommendation (price targets) responses for earnings management firms. I use the residual income model to compute fundamental value and I add proxies for earnings management to my analyst-responses models.... The main implications of my findings are that analysts use corporate earnings management and firm fundamental value in their stock recommendations (price targets) responses. In addition, my results provide evidence that, after controlling for earnings quality, analysts' stock recommendations (price targets) are consistent with strategies based on residual income models. These findings will be of interest to shareholders, regulators, and researchers as well as to finance and accounting practitioners.
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Date Issued: 2012
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3355872
Subject Headings: Investment analysis, Portfolio management, Earnings per share, Accounting, Financial statements, Corporations, Finance
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Large shareholder heterogeneity: the effect on firms' accounting quality and information asymmetry.
Creator: Trainor, Joseph E., College of Business, School of Accounting
Abstract/Description: I investigate the association between large shareholder heterogeneity and firms' accounting quality and information asymmetry. Specifically, I construct three measures of ownership heterogeneity based on the type, size, and monitoring aggressiveness of large shareholders present in a firm. Applying these three measures of heterogeneity, I examine whether large shareholder heterogeneity is associated with the variation in firms' accounting quality and information asymmetry. I also examine new...
Show moreI investigate the association between large shareholder heterogeneity and firms' accounting quality and information asymmetry. Specifically, I construct three measures of ownership heterogeneity based on the type, size, and monitoring aggressiveness of large shareholders present in a firm. Applying these three measures of heterogeneity, I examine whether large shareholder heterogeneity is associated with the variation in firms' accounting quality and information asymmetry. I also examine new block formations to provide evidence on the consequences of large shareholder investment on firms' accounting quality and information asymmetry. I find that the monitoring aggressiveness of large shareholders is positively associated with firms' accounting quality and information asymmetry. These findings suggest that large aggressive shareholders constrain earnings management, but contribute to firms' overall information asymmetry. Further, using new blockholder data, I find that investments by large aggressive shareholders are positively associated with firms' accounting quality and firms' information asymmetry in the post investment period. This finding provides additional support to my hypotheses that large shareholders play an important role in firms' accounting quality and information asymmetry.
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Date Issued: 2011
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3322515
Subject Headings: Investment analysis, Financial services industry, Organizational effectiveness, Measurement, Total quality management
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Managerial reputation and Non-GAAP earnings disclosures.
Creator: Cheng, Yun, Kohlbeck, Mark, Florida Atlantic University, College of Business, School of Accounting
Abstract/Description: I examine how managerial reputation affects the quality of non-GAAP earnings disclosures and how the market reacts to non-GAAP earnings disclosures associated with managerial reputation. Although there was an initial dip in the frequency of non-GAAP earnings disclosures after SOX and Regulation G, the frequency of non-GAAP earnings disclosures has increased in recent years (Brown, Christensen, Elliott and Mergenthaler 2012). Motivated by the efficient contracting theory and managerial...
Show moreI examine how managerial reputation affects the quality of non-GAAP earnings disclosures and how the market reacts to non-GAAP earnings disclosures associated with managerial reputation. Although there was an initial dip in the frequency of non-GAAP earnings disclosures after SOX and Regulation G, the frequency of non-GAAP earnings disclosures has increased in recent years (Brown, Christensen, Elliott and Mergenthaler 2012). Motivated by the efficient contracting theory and managerial reputation incentives, I investigate whether reputable managers are associated with higher quality non-GAAP earnings disclosures. I also investigate whether the market is more responsive to non-GAAP earnings disclosed by reputable managers. Using empirical models modified from prior research, I find that reputable managers are less likely to disclose non-GAAP earnings, which is consistent with the efficient contracting explanation. I also find that reputable managers exclude more recurring items that are related to future operating earnings when they disclose non-GAAP earnings, which is consistent with the rent extraction explanation in prior research. Finally, I find that managerial reputation has an incremental effect on the market reaction and that the market is more responsive to non-GAAP earnings disclosed by reputable managers if the unexpected earnings are positive. The study contributes to both non-GAAP earnings disclosures literature and managerial reputation incentives literature. It also has implications for investors, managers, and regulators.
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Date Issued: 2014
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004185, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004185
Subject Headings: Capital productivity -- Measurement, Disclosure in accounting, Industrial management, Investment analysis, Risk management
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Target stock price runup prior to acquisitions.
Creator: Brigida, Matthew David., College of Business, Department of Finance
Abstract/Description: Information leakage before full acquisitions has been widely documented. The information leakage, and the resulting pre-bid runup in the target's stock, generally increases the total cost of the acquisition. That is, information leakage and the ensuing pre-bid runup is a gain to the target and loss to the acquirer. Herein, I first ascertain the characteristics of full acquisitions that affect the amount of information leakage. I find that if the acquirer borrows to finance the acquisition...
Show moreInformation leakage before full acquisitions has been widely documented. The information leakage, and the resulting pre-bid runup in the target's stock, generally increases the total cost of the acquisition. That is, information leakage and the ensuing pre-bid runup is a gain to the target and loss to the acquirer. Herein, I first ascertain the characteristics of full acquisitions that affect the amount of information leakage. I find that if the acquirer borrows to finance the acquisition then information leakage is greater. Further if the acquirer is foreign, if the target is a high-tech firm, and if the target has options on its stock all increase information leakage. I find hostile deals are effective in reducing information leakage. Lastly, information leakage increases in the percentage of managerial ownership. I next hypothesize that the identity and intent of partial acquirers is known to market participants before the announcement of a partial acquisition. I find that the market can anticipate whether a partial acquirer intends to fully-acquire or take an active role in the management of the target. Also, the market anticipates whether the acquirer is a private investment find or a non-financial corporation. Further, the acquirer's identity or intent is fully reflected in the target's stock price before the announcement of the partial acquisition. These results help explain why there are few partial acquisitions as precursors to full acquisitions., I next hypothesize that macroeconomic factors affect information leakage, and may serve as a signal of when to speculate on acquisitions. I find that information leakage is positively related to shocks in both expected economic conditions and financing costs, the latter signaling to speculators that acquisitions are imminent. I also find information about an imminent full acquisition is leaked earlier when there are positive shocks to economic conditions and financing costs.
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Date Issued: 2009
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/368613
Subject Headings: Consolidation and merger of corporations, Negotiation in business, Investment analysis, Stocks, Prices, Securities industry, Corrupt practices
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Penny stock IPOs as investments.
Creator: Konku, Daniel K., Florida Atlantic University, Wiley, Marilyn
Abstract/Description: Researchers of Initial Public Offerings, IPOs, have, traditionally, filtered out low-priced stocks with cut-off prices depending on individual study. This study examines underpricing, short- and long-run performance of one special class of such low-priced stocks. I examine IPOs filed for and issued as Penny Stocks, as defined by the amended SEC Act of 1990. The study finds average first-day excess returns of 128% over a benchmark NASDAQ Decile 1 Index. The excess returns on nonpenny IPOs...
Show moreResearchers of Initial Public Offerings, IPOs, have, traditionally, filtered out low-priced stocks with cut-off prices depending on individual study. This study examines underpricing, short- and long-run performance of one special class of such low-priced stocks. I examine IPOs filed for and issued as Penny Stocks, as defined by the amended SEC Act of 1990. The study finds average first-day excess returns of 128% over a benchmark NASDAQ Decile 1 Index. The excess returns on nonpenny IPOs issued on the same markets as the penny stocks are 7.6% over the S&P 500 Index. Cross-sectional analyses show that lower-priced penny stocks and stocks of smaller firms are more highly underpriced. Consistent with the information asymmetry hypothesis, penny stocks that were issued on the pink sheets are more highly underpriced than those on the more exposed and more regulated environments of the NASDAQ Small Capitalization markets and the OTC markets. The short- and long-run performance analyses show that, in general, penny stocks have a high performance of between 18% to 20% raw returns in the first year of issue but that declines sharply after a 13-month period. I find an 11-month optimal holding period over which an investor could maximize his returns in a portfolio of penny stocks. I further show that a passive buy-and-hold investment in penny stocks held longer than this optimal period can be a poor investment but an actively-managed penny-stock portfolio can outperform comparable benchmark portfolios of various market indexes on both raw and risk-adjusted basis. Penny stock issuers have shifted from public issues to private placement since 2001. I examine the return to investors in these private issues during the lockup period or until those issues eventually end up in the public domain. The average annualized return to investors during the lockup period is 229%, with only 5% of those issues recording negative returns. Investors who bought these stocks immediately after the lockup period, however, experience an 11% drop in value but the trend reversed after about 10 months, indicating a better long-run performance than those initially issued on the public markets. I examine the effect of the Penny Stock Reform Act (1990) on the number of sanctions that were imposed on the penny stock issuers. The policy intervention analysis shows that the number of sanctions dropped by 9% in the immediate aftermath of the enactment of the Act but increased significantly by nearly 4.7% per quarter thereafter.
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Date Issued: 2006
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/12223
Subject Headings: Going public (Securities)--Law and legislation--United States, Portfolio management, Penny stocks--Rate of return, Investment analysis
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Entropic Considerations of Efficiency in the West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil Futures Market.
Creator: Sagul, Ryan, Yuhn, Ky-hyang, Florida Atlantic University, College of Business, Department of Economics
Abstract/Description: For the last fifty years, the efficient market hypothesis has been the central pillar of economic thought and touted by all, despite Sanford Grossman’ and Nobel prize winner Joseph Stiglitz’ objection in 1980. Andrew Lo updated the efficient market hypothesis in 2004 to reconcile irrational human behavior and cold, calculating automatons. This thesis utilizes 33 years of oil futures, GARCH regressions, and the Jensen-Shannon informational criteria to provide extensive empirical objections to...
Show moreFor the last fifty years, the efficient market hypothesis has been the central pillar of economic thought and touted by all, despite Sanford Grossman’ and Nobel prize winner Joseph Stiglitz’ objection in 1980. Andrew Lo updated the efficient market hypothesis in 2004 to reconcile irrational human behavior and cold, calculating automatons. This thesis utilizes 33 years of oil futures, GARCH regressions, and the Jensen-Shannon informational criteria to provide extensive empirical objections to informational efficiency. The results demonstrate continuously inefficient oil future markets which exhibit decreased informational efficiency during recessionary periods, advocating the adaptive market hypothesis over the efficient market hypothesis.
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Date Issued: 2016
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004730, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004730
Subject Headings: Capital market -- Psychological aspects, Energy industries -- Risk management, Financial risk management -- Mathematical models, Futures, Investment analysis, Petroleum industry and trade -- Economic aspects, Stocks -- Mathematical models
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Juicing the Potato: The Giffen Effect and Market Volatility.
Creator: Fiske, Brian, Van Tassel, Eric, Florida Atlantic University
Abstract/Description: The key objective of this thesis is to explain how aggregate agent investment behavior, in the presence of a Giffen Good, leads to excess market volatility. The thesis relies on two microeconomic models. The first model demonstrates how, in the presence of a Giffen Good, the demand curve is discontinuous and upward sloping. By analyzing the demand curve, price regions of potential volatility are identified. Using the first model as a foundation, a second model is introduced in which a...
Show moreThe key objective of this thesis is to explain how aggregate agent investment behavior, in the presence of a Giffen Good, leads to excess market volatility. The thesis relies on two microeconomic models. The first model demonstrates how, in the presence of a Giffen Good, the demand curve is discontinuous and upward sloping. By analyzing the demand curve, price regions of potential volatility are identified. Using the first model as a foundation, a second model is introduced in which a speculator trades in a dynamic setting. In this dynamic framework, opportunities for profit making by the speculator are identified. The speculative behavior aggravates market volatility.
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Date Issued: 2007
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00000302
Subject Headings: Investment analysis--Mathematics, Giffen, Robert,--1837-1910, Consumption (Economics)--Mathematical models--Ireland, Consumer behavior--Ireland, Microeconomics
Format: Document (PDF)

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