Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

submittedVersion

Publication Date

5-2006

Abstract

We find that analysts who issue more accurate earnings forecasts also issue more profitable stock recommendations. The average factor-adjusted return associated with the recommendations of analysts in the highest accuracy quintile exceeds the corresponding return for analysts in the lowest accuracy quintile by 1.27% per month. Our findings provide indirect empirical support for valuation models in the accounting and finance literatures (e.g., Ohlson, 1995) that emphasize the role of future earnings in predicting stock price movements. Our results also suggest that imperfectly efficient markets reward information gatherers, such as security analysts, for their costly activities in generating superior earnings forecasts.

Keywords

Earnings-based valuation models, Earnings forecasts, Stock recommendations, Security analysts

Discipline

Finance and Financial Management | Portfolio and Security Analysis

Research Areas

Finance

Publication

Journal of Financial Economics

Volume

80

Issue

2

First Page

455

Last Page

483

ISSN

0304-405X

Identifier

10.1016/j.jfineco.2005.03.009

Publisher

Elsevier

Copyright Owner and License

Authors

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfineco.2005.03.009

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