A note on the value of combining short-term earnings forecasts

1987 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 239-243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jay S. Holmen
Keyword(s):  
Earnings Forecasts ◽  
Short Term

Analysts’ Incentives to Overweight Management Guidance When Revising Their Short-Term Earnings Forecasts

2010 ◽  
Vol 85 (5) ◽  
pp. 1617-1646 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mei Feng ◽  
Sarah McVay
Keyword(s):  
Forecast Accuracy ◽  
Earnings Forecasts ◽  
Investment Banking ◽  
Equity Offerings ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Management Guidance ◽  
Banking Business

ABSTRACT: We document that, when revising their short-term earnings forecasts in response to management guidance, analysts wishing to curry favor with management weight the guidance more heavily than predicted, based on the credibility and usefulness of the guidance. This overweighting of guidance is present prior to equity offerings and other events that could lead to investment banking business. Although analysts sacrifice their forecast accuracy by overweighting management guidance, they appear to benefit, on average, by subsequently gaining the underwriting business for their banks. Thus, while analysts wishing to please managers are optimistic in their long-term earnings forecasts, they take their cue from management when determining their short-term earnings forecasts.

scholarly journals Updating great expectations: The effect of peer salary information on own-earnings forecasts

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sam Jones ◽  
Ricardo Santos
Keyword(s):  
Job Search ◽  
Cognitive Skills ◽  
Public Information ◽  
Earnings Forecasts ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Great Expectations ◽  
Earnings Expectations ◽  
Salary Information ◽  
The Impact

How jobseekers set their earnings expectations is central to job search models. To study this process, we track the evolution of own-earnings forecasts over 18 months for a representative panel of university-leavers in Mozambique and estimate the impact of a wage information intervention. We sent participants differentiated messages about the average earnings of their peers, obtained from prior survey rounds. Demonstrating the stickiness of (initially optimistic) beliefs, we find an elasticity of own-wage expectations to this news of around 7 per cent in the short term and 16 per cent over the long term, which compares to a 22 per cent elasticity in response to unanticipated actual wage offers. We further find evidence of heterogeneous updating heuristics, where factors such as the initial level of optimism, cognitive skills, perceived reliability of the information, and valence of the news shape how wage expectations are updated. We recommend institutionalizing public information about earnings.

scholarly journals The effect of takeover defenses on long term and short term analysts’ earnings forecasts: The case of poison pills

2007 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 140-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas A. Turk ◽  
Jeremy Goh ◽  
Candace E. Ybarra
Keyword(s):  
Earnings Forecasts ◽  
Security Analysts ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Takeover Defenses ◽  
Poison Pill ◽  
Poison Pills ◽  
One Year

This study examined the effect of poison pill adoption on long term and short earnings forecasts by security analysts. Our results provide no evidence of significant revisions in one-year or five-year earnings forecasts following the adoption of poison pills. We do find evidence, however, that firms adopt poison pills following a period of significant negative revisions in earnings forecasts. Our results suggest that poison pill adoptions may be a response to downward revisions in earnings forecasts

Characteristics and Implications of Long-Term Earnings Guidance

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-54
Author(s):  
Andrew C. Call ◽  
Adam M. Esplin ◽  
Bin Miao
Keyword(s):  
Voluntary Disclosure ◽  
Earnings Forecasts ◽  
Data Availability ◽  
Real Earnings Management ◽  
Limited Attention ◽  
Earnings Guidance ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Operating Environments ◽  
Growth Forecasts

ABSTRACT We examine a form of voluntary disclosure that has received limited attention to date, namely, managers' long-term guidance for earnings three to five years in advance. We identify 1,739 long-term earnings forecasts issued by 295 unique firms from 2000 to 2012 and find that relative to firms that issue only short-term earnings guidance, those that also issue long-term guidance are larger, have more certain operating environments, and are followed by analysts who are more likely to issue long-term growth forecasts. Long-term guidance is informative to investors and analysts incorporate the news contained in these forecasts into their own long-term growth forecasts. We also document that the issuance of long-term guidance is associated with more (less) investor focus on long-term (short-term) earnings news. Last, we find mixed evidence on the association between long-term guidance and real earnings management decisions. Our study adds to the literature on managers' voluntary disclosure choices. Data Availability: Data are available from the public sources cited in the text. JEL Classifications: G17; M41.

Do Investors Fully Unravel Persistent Pessimism in Analysts' Earnings Forecasts?

2017 ◽  
Vol 93 (3) ◽  
pp. 349-377 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Veenman ◽  
Patrick Verwijmeren
Keyword(s):  
Stock Returns ◽  
Earnings Forecasts ◽  
Analyst Forecast ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Market Prices ◽  
Earnings Expectations ◽  
Earnings Surprises ◽  
Announcement Returns ◽  
Low Probability ◽  
Jel Classifications

ABSTRACT This study presents evidence suggesting that investors do not fully unravel predictable pessimism in sell-side analysts' earnings forecasts. We show that measures of prior consensus and individual analyst forecast pessimism are predictive of both the sign of firms' earnings surprises and the stock returns around earnings announcements. That is, we find that firms with a relatively high probability of forecast pessimism experience significantly higher announcement returns than those with a low probability. Importantly, we show that these findings are driven by predictable pessimism in analysts' short-term forecasts, as opposed to optimism in their longer-term forecasts. We further find that this mispricing is related to the difficulty investors have in identifying differences in expected forecast pessimism. Overall, we conclude that market prices do not fully reflect the conditional probability that a firm meets or beats earnings expectations as a result of analysts' pessimistically biased short-term forecasts. JEL Classifications: G12; G14; G20.

Benefits of management disclosure precision on analysts’ forecasts

2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 371-399 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu-Ho Chi ◽  
David A. Ziebart
Keyword(s):  
Forecast Accuracy ◽  
Earnings Forecasts ◽  
Forecast Errors ◽  
Management Earnings Forecasts ◽  
Earnings Guidance ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Management Forecast ◽  
Forecast Precision ◽  
The Impact

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of management’s choice of forecast precision on the subsequent dispersion and accuracy of analysts’ earnings forecasts. Design/methodology/approach – Using a sample of 3,584 yearly management earnings per share (EPS) forecasts and 10,287 quarterly management EPS forecasts made during the period of 2002-2007 and collected from the First Call database, the authors controlled for factors previously found to impact analysts’ forecast accuracy and dispersion and investigate the link between management forecast precision and attributes of the analysts’ forecasts. Findings – Results provide empirical evidence that managements’ disclosure precision has a statistically significant impact on both the dispersion and the accuracy of subsequent analysts’ forecasts. It was found that the dispersion in analysts’ forecasts is negatively related to the management forecast precision. In other words, a precise management forecast is associated with a smaller dispersion in the subsequent analysts’ forecasts. Evidence consistent with accuracy in subsequent analysts’ forecasts being positively associated with the precision in the management forecast was also found. When the present analysis focuses on range forecasts provided by management, it was found that lower precision (a larger range) is associated with a larger dispersion among analysts and larger forecast errors. Practical implications – Evidence suggests a consistency in inferences across both annual and quarterly earnings forecasts by management. Accordingly, recent calls to eliminate earnings guidance through short-term quarterly management forecasts may have failed to consider the linkage between the attributes (precision) of those forecasts and the dispersion and accuracy in subsequent analysts’ forecasts. Originality/value – This study contributes to the literature on both management earnings forecasts and analysts’ earnings forecasts. The results assist in policy deliberations related to calls to eliminate short-term management earnings guidance.

scholarly journals Does the Equity Market Reward “Superior” Management Earnings Forecast? Evidence from the U.S. Quarterly Earnings Guidance

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-30
Author(s):  
Tina Wang ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Capital Market ◽  
Stock Price ◽  
Accounting Information ◽  
Price Volatility ◽  
Earnings Forecasts ◽  
Equity Market ◽  
Equity Capital ◽  
Earnings Guidance ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Quarterly Earnings

This paper examines whether equity markets reward the controversial practice of issuing short-term management earnings forecasts. Using a large sample of quarterly earnings forecasts, this research found that firms may temporarily reduce stock price volatility by issuing quarterly earnings forecasts. Furthermore, the analysis showed that not all guidance issuers are equally rewarded by equity capital markets. The benefits of reduced stock price volatility and favorable market valuation primarily accrue to firms with a track record of supplying accurate and timely short-term earnings forecasts. Findings suggest that superior short-term earnings guidance, which fosters transparent financial information environments and reduces investor information uncertainty, is indeed rewarded by equity capital markets. As limited research examines the association between forecast attributes and the capital market consequences of quarterly earnings guidance, this study aimed to provide empirical evidence on equity capital market rewards by issuing high-quality quarterly earnings guidance. A practical implication is that firms need to invest in accounting information systems and accounting talent in order to achieve capital market benefits of supplying high-quality short-term earnings forecasts. Keywords: quarterly earnings guidance, forecast attributes, accounting information system, equity market rewards, United States

Short-term management earnings forecasts and earnings management through real activities manipulation

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 110-138
Author(s):  
Bing Luo
Keyword(s):  
Earnings Management ◽  
Earnings Forecasts ◽  
Earnings Forecast ◽  
Management Earnings Forecasts ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Quarterly Earnings ◽  
Real Activities Manipulation ◽  
External Shareholders ◽  
Term Management

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the association between managers’ short-term, quarterly earnings forecast characteristics and earnings management through real activities manipulation. Design/methodology/approach Using a propensity-score matched sample from 2000 to 2015, the author examines whether, compared to non-issuers, firms issuing short-term earnings forecasts exhibit abnormal levels of earnings management through the manipulation of real activities such as acceleration of sales, changes in shipment schedules and delaying R&D and maintenance expenditures. Findings The finding of this study suggests that firms actually engage in less real activities manipulation when they provide short-term management earnings forecasts. This result does not support the practitioners’ criticism that providing short-term management earnings forecasts increases earnings management. Instead, it suggests that providing management earnings forecasts can reduce information asymmetry between managers and external shareholders, thereby constraining managers’ opportunistic behaviors. Originality/value Practitioners have expressed concerns that issuing earnings forecasts may foster managerial myopia, therefore, increasing earnings management. However, recent empirical study found evidence that management earnings forecast mitigates accrual-based earnings management, which is inconsistent with practitioners’ view. This study hence aims to provide timely evidence to this debate by examining the relation between management earnings forecasts and real activities manipulation.

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