Fundamental Valuation

Since 7/9/09, Christophe Faugère has been publishing (almost) daily “Market Estimates” of the value of the S&P 500 Index based on Required Yield Theory (RYT). RYT views investors as: (1) requiring that U.S. stocks and bonds in aggregate prospectively provide a real after-tax yield directly related to real long-term GDP per capita growth; and then, (2) deciding between stocks and bonds based on the better after-tax real return. To test the predictive power of these market estimates, we focus on daily percentage mismatches between estimated and actual values of the S&P 500 Index [(Estimated-Actual)/Actual] and exploitability of these mismatches via S&P Depository Receipts (SPY). Using daily RYT market estimates and daily levels of the S&P 500 Index and SPY over the period 7/9/09 through 3/3/10 (160 daily model outputs), we find that: Keep Reading

Are stock earnings yield (E/P) and firm book-to-price ratio (B/P) complementary indicators of future stock returns? In their December 2009 paper entitled “Returns to Buying Earnings and Book Value: Accounting for Growth and Risk”, Francesco Reggiani and Stephen Penman investigate the interplay of E/P and B/P in an accounting context, including joint implications for future stock returns. The authors hypothesize that B/P measures the degree to which firms defer recognition of risky earnings. Using monthly stock return and firm financial data for a broad sample of U.S. stocks spanning 1963-2006 (153,858 firm-years over 44 years), they find that: Keep Reading

What types of corporate news have the most impact on stock price? In their February 2010 paper entitled “Market Reaction to Corporate News and the Influence of the Financial Crisis”, Andreas Neuhierl, Anna Scherbina and Bernd Schlusche analyze immediate stock return, volatility and liquidity reactions to various types of corporate news (focusing on one day before to five days after release date). They segment news releases into nine major categories and 52 subcategories. Using a comprehensive sample of 285,917 corporate press releases carried by all major news wire services between April 2006 and August 2009, they find that: Keep Reading

A reader asked: “Have you done any backtesting to compare value investing versus market timing? Magic Formula Investing seems to rank #1 in value investing and Decision Moose seems to stand out for market timing. Is there any direct comparison between Magic Formula Investing vs. Decision Moose?” Keep Reading

Does decomposition of widely used valuation ratios into components that reflect long-term trend and shorter-term variation from trend reveal predictability? In their November 2009 paper entitled “Do Decomposed Financial Ratios Predict Stock Returns and Fundamentals Better?”, Xiaoquan Jiang and Bong-Soo Lee explore decomposition of the dividend-price, earnings-price and book-to-market ratios into stochastic trend and cyclical components. The stochastic trend component measures variations in longer-term trend (fundamental structural changes), while the cyclical component measures shorter-term deviations from this trend. The study employs rolling four-quarter sums of dividends and earnings, with the latter smoothed via a ten-year moving average, and accounting data to model older book values. Using quarterly S&P 500 Index returns and valuation metrics for the S&P 500 over the period 1926-2008, they find that: Keep Reading

As espoused by many market commentators, do positive (negative) earnings surprises in fact predict upward (downward) stock market movement? In their January 2010 paper entitled “Aggregate Market Reaction to Earnings Announcements”, William Cready and Umit Gurun investigate the relationship between earnings announcement surprises and market returns, focusing on the days surrounding earnings news. Using quarterly earnings announcements for a broad sample of firms spanning January 3, 1973 through June 21, 2006 (413,687 announcements) and contemporaneous values of a combined NYSE/AMEX index, they find that: Keep Reading

A reader inquired about the Zacks services. The core belief of Zacks Investment Research is: “Earnings estimate revisions are the most powerful force impacting stock prices.” This belief underlies the Zacks “quantitative model to harness the power of earnings estimate revisions – the direction, the degree of change, and surprises – along with other important variables to create the Zacks Rank.” The Zacks Rank feeds a range of information services that Zacks offers to investors. Should investors expect that portfolios built on the Zacks Rank will substantially outperform the market? Based on information available about the Zacks Rank and associated managed accounts/funds, we find that: Keep Reading

Conventional wisdom holds that a low market valuation ratio and a high market volatility both relate positively to future market return. Do valuation ratio and volatility therefore relate negatively to each other with some consistency? If not, why not? In their November 2009 paper entitled “What Ties Return Volatilities to Price Valuations and Fundamentals?”, Alexander David and Pietro Veronesi investigate the relationships between stock and bond valuations and their volatilities in the context of varying investor beliefs about future economic growth and inflation. Using S&P 500 operating earnings from Standard & Poor’s, daily closes of the S&P 500 Index, daily bond yield/return data and monthly values of the Consumer Price Index over the period 1958 through 2008 (51 years), they conclude that: Keep Reading

Should investors look for consistent predictability, or upside surprises, in quarterly earnings announcements? In his November 2009 paper entitled “Meeting Analyst Forecasts and Stock Returns”, Ioan Mirciov investigates relationships between announced earnings (relative to analyst forecasts) and long-run future stock performance. Using earnings forecasts, actual earnings, stock returns and firm characteristics data for a broad sample of U.S. stocks over the period 1993-2007, he concludes that: Keep Reading

In his 2009 book Fire Your Stock Analyst!: Analyzing Stocks On Your Own (2nd Edition), author Harry Domash “describes practical step-by-step strategies for finding, researching, and evaluating investment candidates…one for growth stocks, and the other for value investors. …The methods described make use of information readily available to anyone connected to the Internet, but in new ways…” The target audience of the book encompasses “investors willing to put in the time and effort it takes to find and research profitable stock investments.” The culminations of the book (Chapter 18) are separate value stock and growth stock “analysis scorecards.” Some notable points from the book are: Keep Reading