How Pervasive and Investable is the Asset Growth Anomaly?

Abstract

Based on U.S. stock returns from 1973 to 2015, this study found that the asset growth anomaly does not seem to be pervasive and investable. The trading strategy is robust only among a tiny portion of the equity market in terms of both number of stocks and capitalization. In addition to underdiversifcation and capacity constraint, the implementation also involves high arbitrage risk, illiquidity and price impact, low stock loan supply, and potentially non-negligible brokerage fee.

Keywords: asset growth; corporate investments; stock returns

JEL Classification: G14, G31, G32, M41, M42