Costless Signalling in Financial MarketsFRANKE, CÜNTER
doi: 10.1111/j.1540-6261.1987.tb03913.xpmid: N/A
ABSTRACT A costless, fully revealing signalling equilibrium is derived from two easily understandable conditions. The outsider‐rationality condition states that the outsiders relate the price that they offer to pay for a security inversely to the supply of this security, which they interpret as a quality signal. The no‐arbitrage condition requires that the marginal exchange rate for two securities be the same in both primary and secondary markets. These conditions restrict the firm's financing policy and have strong implications for the valuation of securities and of the total firm. A costless signalling equilibrium is obtained.
Managerial Preference, Asymmetric Information, and Financial StructureBLAZENKO, GEORGE W.
doi: 10.1111/j.1540-6261.1987.tb03915.xpmid: N/A
ABSTRACT If firm performance affects managers' wealth or reputation, preferences of managers dominate firms' financing decisions. When information about real asset investment is symmetric, managers finance exclusively with equity. If managers know more about asset quality than do investors and if managers are sufficiently risk averse, they signal high‐quality projects with debt. Increases in collateral value decrease risky debt use. Increases in interest rates that do not change productive opportunities increase debt use. The explanation for these and further results is based on underpricing of equity and overpricing of debt at the margin.
Trade Credit and Informational AsymmetrySMITH, JANET KIHOLM
doi: 10.1111/j.1540-6261.1987.tb03916.xpmid: N/A
ABSTRACT Commonly used trade credit terms implicitly define a high interest rate that operates as an efficient screening device where information about buyer default risk is asymmetrically held. By offering trade credit, a seller can identify prospective defaults more quickly than if financial institutions were the sole providers of short‐term financing. The information is valuable in cases where the seller has made nonsalvageable investments in buyers since it enables the seller to take actions to protect such investments.
Mean‐Variance SpanningHUBERMAN, GUR; KANDEL, SHMUEL
doi: 10.1111/j.1540-6261.1987.tb03917.xpmid: N/A
ABSTRACT The authors propose a likelihood‐ratio test of the hypothesis that the minimum‐variance frontier of a set of K assets coincides with the frontier of this set and another set of N assets. They study the relation between this hypothesis, exact arbitrage pricing, and mutual fund separation. The exact distribution of the test statistic is available. The authors test the hypothesis that the frontier spanned by three size‐sorted stock portfolios is the same as the frontier spanned by thirty‐three size‐sorted stock portfolios.
Corporate Financial Policy, Information, and Market Expectations: An Empirical Investigation of DividendsOFER, AHARON R.; SIEGEL, DANIEL R.
doi: 10.1111/j.1540-6261.1987.tb03918.xpmid: N/A
ABSTRACT This paper documents a relationship between announcements of unexpected changes in financial policy and unexpected changes in performance of the firm. Using a new methodology that combines analysis of stock price movements and earnings forecast data, the authors provide evidence that analysts revise their earnings forecasts following the announcement of an unexpected dividend change by an amount positively related to the size of the unexpected dividend change. They also provide evidence that these revisions are positively related to the change in equity value surrounding the announcement. Further, they find that these revisions are consistent with rationality. Their results therefore provide direct evidence consistent with the hypothesis that unexpected dividend changes signal information about firm performance to market participants.
Stock Splits and Stock Dividends: Why, Who, and WhenLAKONISHOK, JOSEF; LEV, BARUCH
doi: 10.1111/j.1540-6261.1987.tb03919.xpmid: N/A
ABSTRACT This study investigates empirically why firms split their stock or distribute stock dividends and why the market reacts favorably to these distributions. The findings suggest that stock splits are mainly aimed at restoring stock prices to a “normal range.” Some support can also be found for the oft‐mentioned signalling motive of stock splits. Stock dividends are altogether different from stock splits, and they appear to be a decreasing phenomenon. The clue to stock dividend distributions may lie in their perceived substitution for relatively low cash dividends.
Corporate Takeover Bids, Methods of Payment, and Bidding Firms' Stock ReturnsTRAVLOS, NICKOLAOS G.
doi: 10.1111/j.1540-6261.1987.tb03921.xpmid: N/A
ABSTRACT This study explores the role of the method of payment in explaining common stock returns of bidding firms at the announcement of takeover bids. The results reveal significant differences in the abnormal returns between common stock exchanges and cash offers. The results are independent of the type of takeover bid, i.e., merger or tender offer, and of bid outcomes. These findings, supported by analysis of nonconvertible bonds, are attributed mainly to signalling effects and imply that the inconclusive evidence of earlier studies on takeovers may be due to their failure to control for the method of payment.
The Pricing Effects of Interfirm Cash Tender OffersBHAGAT, SANJAI; BRICKLEY, JAMES A.; LOEWENSTEIN, URI
doi: 10.1111/j.1540-6261.1987.tb03922.xpmid: N/A
ABSTRACT The tools provided by option‐pricing theory are used to examine the wealth effects of interfirm cash tender offers. The analysis provides evidence consistent with the “synergy” theory of corporate takeovers and has implications concerning the economic effects of regulations of cash tender offers. The analysis further suggests that the market prices information uncertainty in a manner not captured by the standard Capital Asset Pricing Model. The study introduces a technique for unbundling the prices of a primary asset and a contingent claim when only the prices of the combination are observed.