Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
Abstract
This study examines whether capital expenditures provide value relevant information which is incremental to that of current earnings. Models in accounting or capital expenditures yield information about a firm's future earnings that is not captured by current earnings, as managers respond to private information about future demand and costs through their investment decisions. Empirical research, however, has not provided consistent and strong evidence of this effect.
Research on the earning response coefficient (ERC) has shown that factors such as size, risk, and growth are important to the valuation of firm's earnings. Since earnings are reflection of the firm's investments, it seems natural to expect that valuation of the underlying investments is also sensitive to these and other relevant factors.
After controlling for size-related pre-disclosure information differences, we provide strong evidence that unexpected capital expenditures, in conjunction with mediating variables for growth, risk and earning levels, provide incremental value relevant information beyond unexpected current earnings and its mediating variables. So we find that capital expenditures changes are strongly and positively associated with excess returns.
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