Essays On Asset Pricing And Growth Effect

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2008-08-08T02:31:11Z

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Finance & Real Estate

Abstract

This dissertation comprises two essays on growth effects and opportunities experienced by companies and their implications for asset pricing models. In the first essay, I develop and test a model to explain the empirically observed value-growth stock return effect using real options theory. I simulate results from a real options model for two firm types. One type, the "value" firm, has a single growth opportunity. The other type, the "growth" firm, has infinitely repeated growth opportunities. Growth firms: (1) invest sooner, (2) pursue less lumpy investment paths, (3) have lower book-to-market ratios, and (4) generate lower rates of return than value firms. In the second essay, I examine relationships between sustainable growth and subsequent stock returns. Findings indicate that high sustainable growth firms have low default risk, low book-to-market ratio, and low subsequent returns. Cross-sectional tests indicate that sustainable growth subsumes the book-to-market equity ratio.

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