The Puzzle of Frequent and Large Issues of Debt and Equity

Department

Economics, Finance and Quantitative Analysis

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2-7-2022

Abstract

More frequent, larger, and more recent debt and equity issues in the prior 3 fiscal years are followed by lower stock returns in the subsequent year. The intercept of a q-factor calendar-time regression for the value-weighted (VW) portfolio of firms with at least 3 large issues is -0.63% per month (t-stat. = -4.31). Purging the factor returns of recent issuers increases the magnitude of the estimated underperformance following frequent equity issues. A VW Fama-MacBeth regression shows that firms with 3 equity issues underperform nonissuers by 0.65% per month (t-stat. = -2.65). Earnings announcement returns are low following frequent issues, especially equity issues.

Journal Title

Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis

Journal ISSN

00221090

Volume

57

Issue

1

First Page

170

Last Page

206

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1017/S0022109021000636

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