Earnings Acceleration and Stock Returns

52 Pages Posted: 24 Oct 2017 Last revised: 21 Jun 2019

See all articles by Shuoyuan He

Shuoyuan He

San Francisco State University

Ganapathi S. Narayanamoorthy

Tulane University - Accounting & Taxation

Date Written: August 1, 2018

Abstract

We document that earnings acceleration, defined as the quarter-over-quarter change in earnings growth, has significant explanatory power for future excess returns. These excess returns are robust to a wide range of previously documented anomalies as well as a battery of risk controls. The magnitude of the excess returns (1.8% in a month-long window) is comparable to those from book-to-market, post-earnings announcement drift and gross profitability anomalies. The future return predictability appears to be consistent with investors assuming a seasonal random walk model for quarterly earnings and missing predictable implications of earnings acceleration for earnings growth two and three quarters hence. Finally, the excess returns from the basic earnings acceleration trading strategy can be enhanced further by nearly 45% by focusing on specific patterns of earnings acceleration.

Keywords: Earnings Acceleration, Trading Strategy, Active Investing, Mispricing, Anomaly

JEL Classification: G14, M41

Suggested Citation

He, Shuoyuan and Narayanamoorthy, Ganapathi S., Earnings Acceleration and Stock Returns (August 1, 2018). Journal of Accounting & Economics (JAE), Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3057632 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3057632

Shuoyuan He

San Francisco State University ( email )

1600 Holloway Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94132
United States

Ganapathi S. Narayanamoorthy (Contact Author)

Tulane University - Accounting & Taxation ( email )

United States

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
1,356
Abstract Views
6,023
Rank
27,117
PlumX Metrics