IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/ausman/v35y2010i1p7-21.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The book-to-market equity ratio as a proxy for risk: evidence from Australian markets

Author

Listed:
  • Michael Dempsey

    (Department of Accounting and Finance, Faculty of Business and Economics, michael.dempsey@buseco.monash.edu.au)

Abstract

Crucial to the interpretation of the Fama and French three-factor model is the question of whether the book-to-market equity ratio should be assigned as a ‘risk-based,’ as opposed to a ‘mispricing’ explanation of share price formation. In the context of Australian stock markets, we examine the role of the book-to-market equity ratio in the formation of stock returns. Notwithstanding the distinctive characteristics of Australian markets, our findings are complementary with findings for U.S. stocks. We succeed in revealing a strong association between stock returns and the firm’s book-to-market equity ratio, and find strong evidence that the association derives from the book-to-market ratio’s absorption of the implications of market leverage as a risk factor. In addition, we determine evidence of mispricing as contributing to the formation of market leverage itself.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael Dempsey, 2010. "The book-to-market equity ratio as a proxy for risk: evidence from Australian markets," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 35(1), pages 7-21, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ausman:v:35:y:2010:i:1:p:7-21
    DOI: 10.1177/0312896209351451
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0312896209351451
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0312896209351451?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. Stephen A. Ross, 2013. "The Arbitrage Theory of Capital Asset Pricing," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Leonard C MacLean & William T Ziemba (ed.), HANDBOOK OF THE FUNDAMENTALS OF FINANCIAL DECISION MAKING Part I, chapter 1, pages 11-30, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    2. William Kross, 1985. "The Size Effect Is Primarily A Price Effect," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 8(3), pages 169-179, September.
    3. Robert Faff, 2001. "An Examination of the Fama and French Three-Factor Model Using Commercially Available Factors," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 26(1), pages 1-17, June.
    4. Robert Faff, 2004. "A simple test of the Fama and French model using daily data: Australian evidence," Applied Financial Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(2), pages 83-92.
    5. 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.
    6. Fama, Eugene F & French, Kenneth R, 1996. "Multifactor Explanations of Asset Pricing Anomalies," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 51(1), pages 55-84, March.
    7. Lakonishok, Josef & Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W, 1994. "Contrarian Investment, Extrapolation, and Risk," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 49(5), pages 1541-1578, December.
    8. Fama, Eugene F & French, Kenneth R, 1992. "The Cross-Section of Expected Stock Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 47(2), pages 427-465, June.
    9. Nick Durack & Robert B. Durand & Ross A. Maller, 2004. "A best choice among asset pricing models? The Conditional Capital Asset Pricing Model in Australia," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 44(2), pages 139-162, July.
    10. Fama, Eugene F. & French, Kenneth R., 1997. "Industry costs of equity," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 153-193, February.
    11. Robert B. Durand & Manapon Limkriangkrai & Gary Smith, 2006. "In America's thrall: the effects of the US market and US security characteristics on Australian stock returns," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 46(4), pages 577-604, December.
    12. Clive Gaunt, 2004. "Size and book to market effects and the Fama French three factor asset pricing model: evidence from the Australian stockmarket," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 44(1), pages 27-44, March.
    13. Martin Lally, 2004. "The Fama‐French Model, Leverage, And The Modigliani‐Miller Propositions," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 27(3), pages 341-349, September.
    14. Bhardwaj, Ravinder K & Brooks, LeRoy D, 1992. "The January Anomaly: Effects of Low Share Price, Transaction Costs, and Bid-Ask Bias," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 47(2), pages 553-575, June.
    15. Fama, Eugene F & French, Kenneth R, 1995. "Size and Book-to-Market Factors in Earnings and Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 50(1), pages 131-155, March.
    16. Merton, Robert C, 1973. "An Intertemporal Capital Asset Pricing Model," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 41(5), pages 867-887, September.
    17. Fama, Eugene F. & French, Kenneth R., 1993. "Common risk factors in the returns on stocks and bonds," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 3-56, February.
    18. Philip Gharghori & Howard Chan & Robert Faff, 2007. "Are the Fama-French Factors Proxying Default Risk?," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 32(2), pages 223-249, December.
    19. repec:bla:jfinan:v:59:y:2004:i:2:p:831-868 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Chan, K C & Chen, Nai-Fu, 1991. "Structural and Return Characteristics of Small and Large Firms," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 46(4), pages 1467-1484, September.
    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. Robert E. Marks, 2010. "Welcome to SAGE Publications," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 35(1), pages 3-5, April.
    2. Omar Gharaibeh, 2015. "The Inter-Firm Value Effect in the Qatar Stock Market: 2005-2014," International Journal of Business and Management, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 11(1), pages 189-189, December.
    3. Brigette Forbes & Anup Basu, 2011. "Does Fundamental Indexation Lead to Better Risk Adjusted Returns? New Evidence from Australian Securities Exchange," School of Economics and Finance Discussion Papers and Working Papers Series 275, School of Economics and Finance, Queensland University of Technology.
    4. Nath, Harmindar B. & Brooks, Robert D., 2020. "Investor-herding and risk-profiles: A State-Space model-based assessment," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    5. Diby François Kassi & Dilesha Nawadali Rathnayake & Pierre Axel Louembe & Ning Ding, 2019. "Market Risk and Financial Performance of Non-Financial Companies Listed on the Moroccan Stock Exchange," Risks, MDPI, vol. 7(1), pages 1-29, February.
    6. Thanh D Huynh & Daniel R Smith, 2017. "Delisted stocks and momentum: Evidence from a new Australian dataset," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 42(1), pages 140-160, February.
    7. Abdurofi, Ilmas, 2021. "Capital Gain Predictability Using Financial Ratios: A Case Study of Agribusiness Stocks," International Journal of Food and Agricultural Economics (IJFAEC), Alanya Alaaddin Keykubat University, Department of Economics and Finance, vol. 9(4), October.
    8. Heaney, Richard & Koh, SzeKee & Lan, Yihui, 2016. "Australian firm characteristics and the cross-section variation in equity returns," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 104-115.
    9. Paul Docherty & Howard Chan & Steve Easton, 2013. "Australian evidence on the implementation of the size and value premia," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 53(2), pages 367-391, June.

    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. Philip Gharghori & Ronald Lee & Madhu Veeraraghavan, 2009. "Anomalies and stock returns: Australian evidence," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 49(3), pages 555-576, September.
    2. Tim Brailsford & Clive Gaunt & Michael A O’Brien, 2012. "Size and book-to-market factors in Australia," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 37(2), pages 261-281, August.
    3. Martin Wallmeier, 2000. "Determinanten erwarteter Renditen am deutschen Aktienmarkt — Eine empirische Untersuchung anhand ausgewählter Kennzahlen," Schmalenbach Journal of Business Research, Springer, vol. 52(1), pages 27-57, February.
    4. Fernando Rubio, 2005. "Eficiencia De Mercado, Administracion De Carteras De Fondos Y Behavioural Finance," Finance 0503028, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 23 Jul 2005.
    5. Michael Dempsey, 2015. "Stock Markets, Investments and Corporate Behavior:A Conceptual Framework of Understanding," World Scientific Books, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., number p1007, August.
    6. Gharghori, Philip & Hamzah, Yusuf & Veeraraghavan, Madhu, 2010. "Migration and its contribution to the size and value premiums: Australian evidence," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 177-196, April.
    7. Hoang, Khoa & Cannavan, Damien & Gaunt, Clive & Huang, Ronghong, 2019. "Is that factor just lucky? Australian evidence," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    8. van Dijk, Mathijs A., 2011. "Is size dead? A review of the size effect in equity returns," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(12), pages 3263-3274.
    9. Richard Mawulawoe Ahadzie & Nagaratnam Jeyasreedharan, 2024. "Higher‐order moments and asset pricing in the Australian stock market," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 64(1), pages 75-128, March.
    10. Ferson, Wayne E. & Sarkissian, Sergei & Simin, Timothy, 1999. "The alpha factor asset pricing model: A parable," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 2(1), pages 49-68, February.
    11. Mardy Chiah & Daniel Chai & Angel Zhong & Song Li, 2016. "A Better Model? An Empirical Investigation of the Fama–French Five-factor Model in Australia," International Review of Finance, International Review of Finance Ltd., vol. 16(4), pages 595-638, December.
    12. Paul Docherty & Howard Chan & Steve Easton, 2013. "Australian evidence on the implementation of the size and value premia," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 53(2), pages 367-391, June.
    13. Leite, André Luis & Klotzle, Marcelo Cabus & Pinto, Antonio Carlos Figueiredo & da Silveira Barbedo, Claudio Henrique, 2020. "The Fama-French’s five-factor model relation with interest rates and macro variables," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    14. Docherty, Paul & Chan, Howard & Easton, Steve, 2013. "Can we treat empirical regularities as state variables in the ICAPM? Evidence from Australia," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 107-124.
    15. repec:bla:jfinan:v:58:y:2003:i:5:p:1969-1996 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. John Y. Campbell, 2000. "Asset Pricing at the Millennium," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(4), pages 1515-1567, August.
    17. Sonntag, Dominik, 2018. "Die Theorie der fairen geometrischen Rendite [The Theory of Fair Geometric Returns]," MPRA Paper 87082, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Fernando Rubio, 2005. "Modelo De Tres Factores En España," Finance 0501001, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Wu, Xueping, 2002. "A conditional multifactor analysis of return momentum," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 26(8), pages 1675-1696, August.
    20. Committee, Nobel Prize, 2013. "Understanding Asset Prices," Nobel Prize in Economics documents 2013-1, Nobel Prize Committee.
    21. Robert B. Durand & Manapon Limkriangkrai & Gary Smith, 2006. "In America's thrall: the effects of the US market and US security characteristics on Australian stock returns," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 46(4), pages 577-604, December.

    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:sae:ausman:v:35:y:2010:i:1:p:7-21. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.agsm.edu.au .

    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.