Earnings-Related Information Transfers and Revisions in Earnings Expectations

Abstract:     
This paper examines the revisions in earnings expectations for non-announcing firms following the earnings announcements of related firms. Specifically, using quarterly earnings data I examine whether such revisions are predictable based on the information released by the announcing firm. Results of the study indicate that the correlation in forecast errors of announcing and non- announcing firms from previous quarters can be used to predict the revisions in earnings expectations of financial analysts and investors around the earnings announcement dates of related firms. Consistent with prior research documenting analyst under-reaction to publicly available information, I also find that analysts' forecast revisions that follow the early announcements do not seem to completely incorporate earnings-related information available from early-announcers in the group. An additional finding is that grouping firms based on patterns in analyst following yields more homogenous sets of firms than classifications based on four-digit SIC codes.

JEL Classification: G29, M41, L10, C81

working papers series