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Can the Market Add and Subtract? Mispricing in Tech Stock Carve-outs


Owen A. Lamont


Harvard University - Department of Economics

Richard H. Thaler


University of Chicago - Booth School of Business; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 111, April 2003

Abstract:     
Recent equity carve-outs in U.S. technology stocks appear to violate a basic premise of financial theory: identical assets have identical prices. In our 1998-2000 sample, holders of a share of company A are expected to receive x shares of company B, but the price of A is less than x times the price of B. A prominent example involves 3Com and Palm. Arbitrage does not eliminate this blatant mispricing due to short-sale constraints, so that B is overpriced but expensive or impossible to sell short. Evidence from options prices shows that shorting costs are extremely high, eliminating exploitable arbitrage opportunities.

Accepted Paper Series


Date posted: June 16, 2003  

Suggested Citation

Lamont, Owen A. and Thaler, Richard H., Can the Market Add and Subtract? Mispricing in Tech Stock Carve-outs. Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 111, April 2003. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=384240

Contact Information

Owen A. Lamont (Contact Author)
Harvard University - Department of Economics ( email )
Littauer Center
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States
Richard H. Thaler
University of Chicago - Booth School of Business ( email )
5807 S. Woodlawn Avenue
Chicago, IL 60637
United States
773-702-5208 (Phone)
773-702-0458 (Fax)
National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States
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