IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/finrev/v58y2023i4p811-832.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Technological innovation and stock returns: Innovative skill versus innovative luck

Author

Listed:
  • Ben Angelo
  • Mitchell Johnston

Abstract

Prior studies conclude that investors undervalue innovative ability. These studies do not fully capture the prominent role that industry and market trends play in contextualizing innovations. We disaggregate the value generated by innovative skill from the value generated by industry and market trends and find that innovative skill is positively associated with profitability. Further, our results are consistent with a risk explanation as innovative skill is negatively associated with returns, consistent with investors using patent value to identify innovative skill and adjusting the riskiness of the firm accordingly.

Suggested Citation

  • Ben Angelo & Mitchell Johnston, 2023. "Technological innovation and stock returns: Innovative skill versus innovative luck," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 58(4), pages 811-832, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:finrev:v:58:y:2023:i:4:p:811-832
    DOI: 10.1111/fire.12344
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/fire.12344
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/fire.12344?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Segerstrom, Paul S, 1991. "Innovation, Imitation, and Economic Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(4), pages 807-827, August.
    2. Philippe Aghion & Nick Bloom & Richard Blundell & Rachel Griffith & Peter Howitt, 2005. "Competition and Innovation: an Inverted-U Relationship," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 120(2), pages 701-728.
    3. Blazsek, Szabolcs & Escribano, Alvaro, 2010. "Knowledge spillovers in US patents: A dynamic patent intensity model with secret common innovation factors," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 159(1), pages 14-32, November.
    4. Hirshleifer, David & Hsu, Po-Hsuan & Li, Dongmei, 2013. "Innovative efficiency and stock returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(3), pages 632-654.
    5. Newey, Whitney K & West, Kenneth D, 1987. "Hypothesis Testing with Efficient Method of Moments Estimation," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 28(3), pages 777-787, October.
    6. Leonid Kogan & Dimitris Papanikolaou & Amit Seru & Noah Stoffman, 2017. "Technological Innovation, Resource Allocation, and Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 132(2), pages 665-712.
    7. David Hirshleifer & Po-Hsuan Hsu & Dongmei Li, 2018. "Innovative Originality, Profitability, and Stock Returns," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 31(7), pages 2553-2605.
    8. Naveen D Daniel & Yuanzhi Li & Lalitha Naveen & Francesca Cornelli, 2020. "Symmetry in Pay for Luck," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 33(7), pages 3174-3204.
    9. Lauren Cohen & Karl Diether & Christopher Malloy, 2013. "Misvaluing Innovation," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 26(3), pages 635-666.
    10. Hussein Abdoh & Yu Liu, 2021. "Executive risk incentives, product market competition, and R&D," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 56(1), pages 133-156, February.
    11. Garvey, Gerald T. & Milbourn, Todd T., 2006. "Asymmetric benchmarking in compensation: Executives are rewarded for good luck but not penalized for bad," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(1), pages 197-225, October.
    12. Philippe Aghion & Christopher Harris & Peter Howitt & John Vickers, 2001. "Competition, Imitation and Growth with Step-by-Step Innovation," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 68(3), pages 467-492.
    13. Fama, Eugene F & MacBeth, James D, 1973. "Risk, Return, and Equilibrium: Empirical Tests," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 81(3), pages 607-636, May-June.
    14. Nicholas Bloom & John Van Reenen, 2002. "Patents, Real Options and Firm Performance," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 112(478), pages 97-116, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Stoffman, Noah & Woeppel, Michael & Yavuz, M. Deniz, 2022. "Small innovators: No risk, No return," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(1).
    2. Basse Mama, Houdou, 2018. "Nonlinear capital market payoffs to science-led innovation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(6), pages 1084-1095.
    3. Machokoto, Michael & Gyimah, Daniel & Ntim, Collins G., 2021. "Do peer firms influence innovation?," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(5).
    4. Po-Hsuan Hsu & Hsiao-Hui Lee & Tong Zhou, 2022. "Patent Thickets, Stock Returns, and Conditional CAPM," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(11), pages 8343-8367, November.
    5. Bereskin, Fred & Hsu, Po-Hsuan & Latham, William & Wang, Huijun, 2023. "So Sue Me! The cross section of stock returns related to patent infringement allegations," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    6. Po-Hsuan Hsu & Dongmei Li & Qin Li & Siew Hong Teoh & Kevin Tseng, 2022. "Valuation of New Trademarks," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(1), pages 257-279, January.
    7. Tseng, Kevin, 2022. "Learning from the Joneses: Technology spillover, innovation externality, and stock returns," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(2).
    8. Li, Xiaogang, 2020. "Innovation, market valuations, policy uncertainty and trade: Theory and evidence," ISU General Staff Papers 202001010800009179, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    9. Do, Trung K., 2024. "Asset redeployability and green innovation," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    10. Anna Bedford & Le Ma & Nelson Ma & Kristina Vojvoda, 2021. "Patenting activity or innovative originality?," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(3), pages 4191-4207, September.
    11. Heusel, Nicola & Mager, Ferdinand, 2023. "Pension funding and the cross section of stock returns - The case of Germany," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    12. Lee, Charles M.C. & Sun, Stephen Teng & Wang, Rongfei & Zhang, Ran, 2019. "Technological links and predictable returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(3), pages 76-96.
    13. Narayan, Paresh Kumar & Narayan, Seema & Tran, Vuong Thao, 2023. "Patent-related intellectual property and corporate investment," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    14. Tsang, Albert & Wang, Kun Tracy & Liu, Simeng & Yu, Li, 2021. "Integrating corporate social responsibility criteria into executive compensation and firm innovation: International evidence," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    15. Huang, Tao & Li, Junye & Wu, Fei & Zhu, Ning, 2022. "R&D information quality and stock returns," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    16. Rajaiya, Harshit, 2023. "Innovation Success and Capital Structure," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    17. Gu, Yuqi & Zhang, Ling, 2017. "The impact of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act on corporate innovation," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 17-30.
    18. Sheng-Syan Chen & Chia-Wei Huang & Chuan-Yang Hwang & Yanzhi Wang, 2022. "Voluntary disclosure and corporate innovation," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 58(3), pages 1081-1115, April.
    19. Giau Bui, Dien & Chen, Yehning & Lin, Chih-Yung & Lin, Tse-Chun, 2021. "Risk-taking of bank CEOs and corporate innovation," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    20. Oh, Jong-Min, 2017. "Absorptive capacity, technology spillovers, and the cross-section of stock returns," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 146-164.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:finrev:v:58:y:2023:i:4:p:811-832. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/efaaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.