Size Anomalies in U.S. Bank Stock Returns

51 Pages Posted: 5 Aug 2010 Last revised: 13 Nov 2014

See all articles by Priyank Gandhi

Priyank Gandhi

Rutgers University, New Brunswick

Hanno N. Lustig

Stanford Graduate School of Business; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Date Written: August 15, 2012

Abstract

The largest commercial bank stocks, ranked by the total size of the balance sheet, have significantly lower risk-adjusted returns than small- and medium-sized bank stocks, even though large banks are significantly more levered. We uncover a size factor in the component of bank returns that is orthogonal to the standard risk factors, including small-minus-big, which has the right covariance with bank returns to explain the average risk-adjusted returns. This factor measures size-dependent exposure to bank-specific tail risk. These findings are consistent with the existence of government guarantees that protect shareholders of large banks, but not small banks, in disaster states.

Keywords: Banking Crisis, Banking, Government Bailout

Suggested Citation

Gandhi, Priyank and Lustig, Hanno N., Size Anomalies in U.S. Bank Stock Returns (August 15, 2012). Journal of Finance, Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1653083 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1653083

Priyank Gandhi

Rutgers University, New Brunswick ( email )

New Brunswick, NJ
United States

Hanno N. Lustig (Contact Author)

Stanford Graduate School of Business ( email )

Stanford GSB
655 Knight Way
Stanford, CA California 94305-6072
United States
3108716532 (Phone)

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
1,649
Abstract Views
7,478
Rank
20,148
PlumX Metrics