All in a Day’s Work: What Do We Learn From Analysts’ Bloomberg Usage?

51 Pages Posted: 9 May 2022 Last revised: 12 Sep 2022

See all articles by Azi Ben-Rephael

Azi Ben-Rephael

Rutgers Business School - Rutgers University

Bruce Carlin

Rice University

Zhi Da

University of Notre Dame - Mendoza College of Business

Ryan D. Israelsen

Michigan State University - Department of Finance

Date Written: September 12, 2022

Abstract

We use minute-by-minute Bloomberg online status data to characterize two important dimensions of sell-side equity analysts' work habits: we estimate the average workday length (AWL) to proxy for analysts' general effort provision and we use the percentage away day (PAD) to proxy for their soft information production. Both AWL and PAD vary much more across analysts than across time. Controlling for coverage, AWL is positively related to the quantity and the timeliness of analyst forecasts, while PAD is negatively related to quantity. Both are positively related to forecast accuracy, even after controlling for analyst fixed effects. COVID lockdown provides further causal evidence. Traveling analysts (with high pre-COVID PAD) experience a significant reduction in forecast accuracy during the lockdown. Using pre-COVID analyst commute time to instrument increased AWL during the lockdown, we find a higher AWL to significantly increase output and improve the accuracy of the forecasts.

Keywords: Analysts, Effort Provision, Forecast Accuracy, Work From Home

JEL Classification: G12

Suggested Citation

Ben-Rephael, Azi and Carlin, Bruce and Da, Zhi and Israelsen, Ryan D., All in a Day’s Work: What Do We Learn From Analysts’ Bloomberg Usage? (September 12, 2022). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4056506 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4056506

Azi Ben-Rephael

Rutgers Business School - Rutgers University ( email )

HOME PAGE: http://https://sites.google.com/site/abenreph

Bruce Carlin

Rice University ( email )

6100 South Main Street
Houston, TX 77005-1892
United States

Zhi Da

University of Notre Dame - Mendoza College of Business ( email )

Notre Dame, IN 46556-5646
United States

Ryan D. Israelsen (Contact Author)

Michigan State University - Department of Finance ( email )

315 Eppley Center
East Lansing, MI 48824-1122
United States

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

Paper statistics

Downloads
222
Abstract Views
982
Rank
212,454
PlumX Metrics