Illiquidity and Earnings Predictability

Columbia Business School Research Paper No. 11-1

Management Science, Forthcoming.

45 Pages Posted: 4 Mar 2011 Last revised: 31 Oct 2018

See all articles by Jon N. Kerr

Jon N. Kerr

Brigham Young University - School of Accountancy

Gil Sadka

University of Texas at Dallas

Ronnie Sadka

Boston College - Carroll School of Management

Date Written: February 28, 2013

Abstract

This paper studies whether illiquidity affects the predictability of fundamental valuation variables. Firm-level, cross-sectional analyses show that returns of illiquid stocks contain less information about their firm's future earnings growth compared to those of more liquid stocks. A natural experiment utilizing an exogenous variation in liquidity amid the reduction of tick size on the NYSE indicates that an improvement in liquidity causes an increase in earnings predictability. At the aggregate level, stock returns contain less information about future growth in aggregate earnings, GNP, and industrial production during illiquid periods. The results highlight the importance of liquidity for forecasting fundamentals and stock-price efficiency.

Keywords: stock prices, aggregate earnings, illiquidity, expected returns, expected earnings

JEL Classification: E32, G12, G14, M41

Suggested Citation

Kerr, Jon N. and Sadka, Gil and Sadka, Ronnie, Illiquidity and Earnings Predictability (February 28, 2013). Columbia Business School Research Paper No. 11-1, Management Science, Forthcoming., Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1776082 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1776082

Jon N. Kerr (Contact Author)

Brigham Young University - School of Accountancy ( email )

United States

Gil Sadka

University of Texas at Dallas ( email )

2601 North Floyd Road
Richardson, TX 75083
United States

Ronnie Sadka

Boston College - Carroll School of Management ( email )

140 Commonwealth Avenue
Chestnut Hill, MA 02467
United States

Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?

Paper statistics

Downloads
607
Abstract Views
4,056
Rank
87,203
PlumX Metrics