IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jaecon/v59y2015i2p163-181.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Why do analysts revise their stock recommendations after earnings announcements?

Author

Listed:
  • Yezegel, Ari

Abstract

Recent research finds that many analyst recommendation revisions take place shortly after earnings announcements. Altinkilic and Hansen (2009) attribute the clustering of recommendations to analysts strategically piggybacking on earnings information to improve the perceived performance of their recommendations. This study proposes an alternative view: I find that analysts issue recommendations when they face greater demand from investors, when the relative supply of information available on earnings announcements is higher and when they detect mispricings. These results are consistent with analysts striving to meet the demands of investors by providing useful recommendations after earnings announcements.

Suggested Citation

  • Yezegel, Ari, 2015. "Why do analysts revise their stock recommendations after earnings announcements?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(2), pages 163-181.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jaecon:v:59:y:2015:i:2:p:163-181
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jacceco.2015.01.001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165410115000026
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jacceco.2015.01.001?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Atiase, Rk, 1985. "Predisclosure Information, Firm Capitalization, And Security Price Behavior Around Earnings Announcements," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(1), pages 21-36.
    2. Harrison Hong & Terence Lim & Jeremy C. Stein, 2000. "Bad News Travels Slowly: Size, Analyst Coverage, and the Profitability of Momentum Strategies," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(1), pages 265-295, February.
    3. Frankel, Richard & Lee, Charles M. C., 1998. "Accounting valuation, market expectation, and cross-sectional stock returns," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 283-319, June.
    4. Boris Groysberg & Paul M. Healy & David A. Maber, 2011. "What Drives Sell‐Side Analyst Compensation at High‐Status Investment Banks?," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(4), pages 969-1000, September.
    5. Womack, Kent L, 1996. "Do Brokerage Analysts' Recommendations Have Investment Value?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 51(1), pages 137-167, March.
    6. Beaver, Wh, 1968. "Information Content Of Annual Earnings Announcements," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 6, pages 67-92.
    7. Bartov, Eli & Givoly, Dan & Hayn, Carla, 2002. "The rewards to meeting or beating earnings expectations," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 173-204, June.
    8. Brad M. Barber & Reuven Lehavy & Brett Trueman, 2010. "Ratings Changes, Ratings Levels, and the Predictive Value of Analysts’ Recommendations," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 39(2), pages 533-553, June.
    9. Green, T. Clifton, 2006. "The Value of Client Access to Analyst Recommendations," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 41(1), pages 1-24, March.
    10. Bernard, Vl & Thomas, Jk, 1989. "Post-Earnings-Announcement Drift - Delayed Price Response Or Risk Premium," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27, pages 1-36.
    11. Obrien, Pc & Bhushan, R, 1990. "Analyst Following And Institutional Ownership," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28, pages 55-76.
    12. Fama, Eugene F. & French, Kenneth R., 1997. "Industry costs of equity," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 153-193, February.
    13. Jegadeesh, Narasimhan & Kim, Woojin, 2006. "Value of analyst recommendations: International evidence," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 9(3), pages 274-309, August.
    14. Kee, H. Chung & McInish, Thomas H. & Wood, Robert A. & Wyhowski, Donald J., 1995. "Production of information, information asymmetry, and the bid-ask spread: Empirical evidence from analysts' forecasts," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 19(6), pages 1025-1046, September.
    15. Simon Gervais & Ron Kaniel & Dan H. Mingelgrin, 2001. "The High‐Volume Return Premium," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(3), pages 877-919, June.
    16. John S. Howe & Emre Unlu & Xuemin (Sterling) Yan, 2009. "The Predictive Content of Aggregate Analyst Recommendations," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(3), pages 799-821, June.
    17. Joshua Livnat & Richard R. Mendenhall, 2006. "Comparing the Post–Earnings Announcement Drift for Surprises Calculated from Analyst and Time Series Forecasts," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(1), pages 177-205, March.
    18. Bhushan, Ravi, 1989. "Firm characteristics and analyst following," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(2-3), pages 255-274, July.
    19. Roger K. Loh, 2010. "Investor Inattention and the Underreaction to Stock Recommendations," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 39(3), pages 1223-1252, September.
    20. Abarbanell, Jeffrey S & Bernard, Victor L, 1992. "Tests of Analysts' Overreaction/Underreaction to Earnings Information as an Explanation for Anomalous Stock Price Behavior," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 47(3), pages 1181-1207, July.
    21. Orie E. Barron & Donal Byard & Charles Kile & Edward J. Riedl, 2002. "High‐Technology Intangibles and Analysts’ Forecasts," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(2), pages 289-312, May.
    22. Kent Daniel & Sheridan Titman, 2006. "Market Reactions to Tangible and Intangible Information," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 61(4), pages 1605-1643, August.
    23. Kormendi, Roger & Lipe, Robert, 1987. "Earnings Innovations, Earnings Persistence, and Stock Returns," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 60(3), pages 323-345, July.
    24. Miller, Merton H & Rock, Kevin, 1985. "Dividend Policy under Asymmetric Information," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 40(4), pages 1031-1051, September.
    25. Kim, O & Verrecchia, Re, 1991. "Trading Volume And Price Reactions To Public Announcements," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 302-321.
    26. Bjerring, James H & Lakonishok, Josef & Vermaelen, Theo, 1983. "Stock Prices and Financial Analysts' Recommendations," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 38(1), pages 187-204, March.
    27. Grant, Eb, 1980. "Market Implications Of Differential Amounts Of Interim Information," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(1), pages 255-268.
    28. Ball, R & Brown, P, 1968. "Empirical Evaluation Of Accounting Income Numbers," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 6(2), pages 159-178.
    29. AltInkIlIç, Oya & Hansen, Robert S., 2009. "On the information role of stock recommendation revisions," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 17-36, October.
    30. Frankel, Richard & Kothari, S.P. & Weber, Joseph, 2006. "Determinants of the informativeness of analyst research," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(1-2), pages 29-54, April.
    31. Papke, Leslie E & Wooldridge, Jeffrey M, 1996. "Econometric Methods for Fractional Response Variables with an Application to 401(K) Plan Participation Rates," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 11(6), pages 619-632, Nov.-Dec..
    32. Thompson, Rb & Olsen, C & Dietrich, Jr, 1987. "Attributes Of News About Firms - An Analysis Of Firm-Specific News Reported In The Wall Street Journal Index," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(2), pages 245-274.
    33. Collins, Daniel W. & Kothari, S. P., 1989. "An analysis of intertemporal and cross-sectional determinants of earnings response coefficients," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(2-3), pages 143-181, July.
    34. Lily Fang & Joel Peress, 2009. "Media Coverage and the Cross‐section of Stock Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(5), pages 2023-2052, October.
    35. 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.
    36. McNichols, M & O'Brien, PC, 1997. "Self-selection and analyst coverage," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35, pages 167-199.
    37. Gintschel, Andreas & Markov, Stanimir, 2004. "The effectiveness of Regulation FD," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 293-314, September.
    38. Karpoff, Jonathan M, 1986. "A Theory of Trading Volume," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 41(5), pages 1069-1087, December.
    39. Brad Barber & Reuven Lehavy & Maureen McNichols & Brett Trueman, 2001. "Can Investors Profit from the Prophets? Security Analyst Recommendations and Stock Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(2), pages 531-563, April.
    40. Ivkovic, Zoran & Jegadeesh, Narasimhan, 2004. "The timing and value of forecast and recommendation revisions," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(3), pages 433-463, September.
    41. Chan, Louis K C & Jegadeesh, Narasimhan & Lakonishok, Josef, 1996. "Momentum Strategies," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 51(5), pages 1681-1713, December.
    42. Chaney, Paul K. & Hogan, Chris E. & Jeter, Debra C., 1999. "The effect of reporting restructuring charges on analysts' forecast revisions and errors," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 261-284, July.
    43. Zhang, Yuan, 2008. "Analyst responsiveness and the post-earnings-announcement drift," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 201-215, September.
    44. Chan, Kalok & Hameed, Allaudeen, 2006. "Stock price synchronicity and analyst coverage in emerging markets," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(1), pages 115-147, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Changhee Lee & Dan Palmon & Ari Yezegel, 2018. "The Corporate Social Responsibility Information Environment: Examining the Value of Financial Analysts’ Recommendations," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 150(1), pages 279-301, June.
    2. Qiang Cheng & Fei Du & Brian Yutao Wang & Xin Wang, 2019. "Do Corporate Site Visits Impact Stock Prices?," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 36(1), pages 359-388, March.
    3. Kim, Robert & Kim, Sangwan, 2021. "Does revenue-expense matching play a differential role in analysts’ earnings and revenue forecasts?," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(5).
    4. Jie Hao & Viet T. Pham, 2022. "COVID‐19 Disclosures and Market Uncertainty: Evidence from 10‐Q Filings," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 32(2), pages 238-266, June.
    5. Edward Xuejun Li & K. Ramesh & Min Shen & Joanna Shuang Wu, 2015. "Do Analyst Stock Recommendations Piggyback on Recent Corporate News? An Analysis of Regular‐Hour and After‐Hours Revisions," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(4), pages 821-861, September.
    6. Mei-Chen Lin, 2020. "When analysts encounter lottery-like stocks: lottery-like stocks and analyst stock recommendations," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 55(1), pages 327-353, July.
    7. Altınkılıç, Oya & Balashov, Vadim S. & Hansen, Robert S., 2019. "Investment bank monitoring and bonding of security analysts’ research," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(1), pages 98-119.
    8. Douglas R. Ayres & John L. Campbell & James A. Chyz & Jonathan E. Shipman, 2019. "Do financial analysts compel firms to make accounting decisions? Evidence from goodwill impairments," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 24(4), pages 1214-1251, December.
    9. Hsieh, Jim & Ng, Lilian & Wang, Qinghai, 2023. "How informative are insider trades and analyst recommendations?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    10. Sun Hyun Park & Kelly Patterson, 2021. "Being Counted and Remaining Accountable: Maintenance of Quarterly Earnings Guidance by U.S. Public Companies," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(3), pages 544-567, May.
    11. Khrystyna Bochkay & Stan Markov & Musa Subasi & Eric Weisbrod, 2022. "The Roles of Data Providers and Analysts in the Production, Dissemination, and Pricing of Street Earnings," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(5), pages 1695-1740, December.
    12. Li, Zhuo & Wen, Fenghua & Huang, Zhijian James, 2023. "Asymmetric response to earnings news across different sentiment states: The role of cognitive dissonance," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    13. Behr Adam & Mielcarz Paweł & Osiichuk Dmytro, 2018. "Terminal Value Calculation in DCF Valuation Models: An Empirical Verification," Financial Internet Quarterly (formerly e-Finanse), Sciendo, vol. 14(1), pages 27-38, March.
    14. Li, Chao Kevin & Luo, Jin-hui & Soderstrom, Naomi S., 2020. "Air pollution and analyst information production," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    15. BC, Bishal & Esfahani, Sharif, 2020. "The role of debt contracts in analyst earnings forecasts," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    16. Chen, Zhongdong & Craig, Karen Ann, 2023. "Active attention, retail investor base, and stock returns," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 39(C).
    17. Huai-Chun Lo & Chia-Ying Chan, 2023. "Mean reverting in stock ratings distribution," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 60(3), pages 1065-1097, April.
    18. Peng-Chia Chiu & Ben Lourie & Alexander Nekrasov & Siew Hong Teoh, 2021. "Cater to Thy Client: Analyst Responsiveness to Institutional Investor Attention," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(12), pages 7455-7471, December.
    19. Du, Mengqiao, 2023. "Locked-in at home: The gender difference in analyst forecasts after the COVID-19 school closures," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(1).
    20. Andrew C. Call & Nathan Y. Sharp & Paul A. Wong, 2019. "Changes in analysts’ stock recommendations following regulatory action against their brokerage," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 24(4), pages 1184-1213, December.

    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. Kothari, S. P., 2001. "Capital markets research in accounting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1-3), pages 105-231, September.
    2. Ramnath, Sundaresh & Rock, Steve & Shane, Philip, 2008. "The financial analyst forecasting literature: A taxonomy with suggestions for further research," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 34-75.
    3. Fargher, Neil & Wee, Marvin, 2019. "The impact of Ball and Brown (1968) on generations of research," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 55-72.
    4. Oya Altınkılıç & Vadim S. Balashov & Robert S. Hansen, 2013. "Are Analysts' Forecasts Informative to the General Public?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 59(11), pages 2550-2565, November.
    5. Savor, Pavel G., 2012. "Stock returns after major price shocks: The impact of information," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(3), pages 635-659.
    6. Leonardo Fernandez, 2012. "Price Discovery, Investor Distraction and Analyst Recommendations Under Continuous Disclosure Requirements in Australia," PhD Thesis, Finance Discipline Group, UTS Business School, University of Technology, Sydney, number 1-2012, January-A.
    7. Leonardo Fernandez, 2012. "Price Discovery, Investor Distraction and Analyst Recommendations Under Continuous Disclosure Requirements in Australia," PhD Thesis, Finance Discipline Group, UTS Business School, University of Technology, Sydney, number 3, July-Dece.
    8. Ryan, Paul & Taffler, Richard J., 2006. "Do brokerage houses add value? The market impact of UK sell-side analyst recommendation changes," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 371-386.
    9. Devos, Erik & Hao, Wei & Prevost, Andrew K. & Wongchoti, Udomsak, 2015. "Stock return synchronicity and the market response to analyst recommendation revisions," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 376-389.
    10. S. P. Kothari & Charles Wasley, 2019. "Commemorating the 50‐Year Anniversary of Ball and Brown (1968): The Evolution of Capital Market Research over the Past 50 Years," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(5), pages 1117-1159, December.
    11. Low, Rand Kwong Yew & Tan, Enoch, 2016. "The role of analyst forecasts in the momentum effect," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 67-84.
    12. Rúben Miguel Torcato Peixinho, 2011. "Are analysts misleading investors? The case of goingconcern opinions," CEFAGE-UE Working Papers 2011_22, University of Evora, CEFAGE-UE (Portugal).
    13. Chen Su, 2023. "The price impact of analyst revisions and the state of the economy: Evidence around the world," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 58(4), pages 887-930, November.
    14. Altınkılıç, Oya & Hansen, Robert S. & Ye, Liyu, 2016. "Can analysts pick stocks for the long-run?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(2), pages 371-398.
    15. Jagjeev Dosanjh, 2017. "Exchange Initiatives and Market Efficiency: Evidence from the Australian Securities Exchange," PhD Thesis, Finance Discipline Group, UTS Business School, University of Technology, Sydney, number 1-2017, January-A.
    16. repec:uts:finphd:34 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Daniel Bradley & Xi Liu & Christos Pantzalis, 2014. "Bucking the Trend: The Informativeness of Analyst Contrarian Recommendations," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 43(2), pages 391-414, June.
    18. Zhang, Yuan, 2008. "Analyst responsiveness and the post-earnings-announcement drift," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 201-215, September.
    19. Jin, Han & Mazouz, Khelifa & Wu, Yuliang & Xu, Bin, 2023. "Can star analysts make superior coverage decisions in poor information environment?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    20. Mei-Chen Lin & Po-Hsin Ho & Hsiang-Lin Chih, 2019. "Effects of managerial overconfidence on analyst recommendations," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 53(1), pages 73-99, July.
    21. Jordan Moore, 2020. "Glamour among value: P/E ratios and value investor attention," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 49(3), pages 673-706, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Financial analysts; Stock recommendations; Earnings announcements; Information interpretation versus information discovery;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • M41 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - Accounting
    • G24 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Investment Banking; Venture Capital; Brokerage
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading

    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:eee:jaecon:v:59:y:2015:i:2:p:163-181. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jae .

    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.