The Implied Cost of Capital: A New Approach
Charles A. Dice Center Working Paper No. 2010-4
Fisher College of Business Working Paper No. 2010-03-004
53 Pages Posted: 2 Mar 2010 Last revised: 13 Dec 2011
Date Written: December 14, 2011
Abstract
We use earnings forecasts from a cross-sectional model to proxy for cash flow expectations and estimate the implied cost of capital (ICC) for a large sample of firms over 1968-2008. The earnings forecasts generated by the cross-sectional model are superior to analysts’ forecasts in terms of coverage, forecast bias, and earnings response coefficient. Moreover, the model-based ICC is a more reliable proxy for expected returns than the ICC based on analysts’ forecasts. We present evidence on the cross-sectional relation between firm-level characteristics and ex ante expected returns using the model-based ICC.
Keywords: Cross-sectional earnings model, Earnings forecasts, Expected returns, Implied cost of capital, Asset pricing tests
JEL Classification: G12, G14, G29, G31, G32, M40, M41
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation