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Earnings Quality and Book-to-Market in the Cross Section of Expected Returns

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  • Vasiliki Athanasakou

    (Saint Mary's University, Canada)

  • George Athanassakos

    (University of Western Ontario, Canada)

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether earnings quality contributes to the book-to- market's predictive power in the cross section of stock returns. Earnings quality is embedded in the value-growth effect given that retained earnings is a key part of the book value of equity. Earnings quality reflects the effects of managerial discretion on reported earnings, which has been shown to be associated with both risk and behavioral biases in asset pricing. Our results affirm the existence of a value premium and show that the value premium is more pronounced within poor earnings quality stocks. Moreover, we find that poor earnings quality contributes to the value premium mainly through the pricing of growth stocks. Our results suggest that the quality of reported earnings has an incremental role in shaping expected returns of value versus growth stocks.

Suggested Citation

  • Vasiliki Athanasakou & George Athanassakos, 2019. "Earnings Quality and Book-to-Market in the Cross Section of Expected Returns," Multinational Finance Journal, Multinational Finance Journal, vol. 23(3-4), pages 169-210, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:mfj:journl:v:23:y:2019:i:3-4:p:169-210
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lucy F. Ackert & George Athanassakos, 2003. "A Simultaneous Equations Analysis of Analysts’ Forecast Bias, Analyst Following, and Institutional Ownership," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(7‐8), pages 1017-1042, September.
    2. Lucy F. Ackert & George Athanassakos, 1997. "Prior Uncertainty, Analyst Bias, And Subsequent Abnormal Returns," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 20(2), pages 263-273, June.
    3. Andrew Ang & Robert J. Hodrick & Yuhang Xing & Xiaoyan Zhang, 2006. "The Cross‐Section of Volatility and Expected Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 61(1), pages 259-299, February.
    4. Adrian, Tobias & Franzoni, Francesco, 2009. "Learning about beta: Time-varying factor loadings, expected returns, and the conditional CAPM," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 537-556, September.
    5. Lucy F. Ackert & George Athanassakos, 2003. "A Simultaneous Equations Analysis of Analysts' Forecast Bias, Analyst Following, and Institutional Ownership," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30, pages 1017-1042.
    6. Ashbaugh-Skaife, Hollis & Collins, Daniel W. & LaFond, Ryan, 2006. "The effects of corporate governance on firms' credit ratings," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(1-2), pages 203-243, October.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    value premium; earnings quality; earnings management; asset pricing;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • M41 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - Accounting

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