Abstract
We examine if analysts more fully incorporate prior earnings and returns information in their current quarter forecasts as their experience following a firm increases. We measure analyst firm-specific forecasting experience as the number of prior quarters for which the analyst has issued an earnings forecast for the firm. We find that analysts underreact to prior earnings information less as their experience increases, suggesting one reason why analysts become more accurate with experience.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 101-116 |
| Number of pages | 16 |
| Journal | Journal of Accounting and Economics |
| Volume | 35 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Apr 2003 |
Funding
We thank Margaret Brodnax, Larry Brown, Qi Chen, Doug DeJong, Jennifer Francis, John Hand, S.P. Kothari, Carolyn Levine, Bill Schwartz, Michael Smith, Lenny Soffer, Jim Wahlen, Bob Winkler, Joanna Wu (referee), Ping Zhou, Jerry Zimmerman (editor), and workshop participants at the 2001 AAA Annual Meeting, Georgia State University, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, the University of Illinois at Chicago, the University of Iowa, London Business School, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology for helpful comments and discussions. We appreciate the financial support of the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University and the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Earnings forecasts are from Zacks Investment Research. Errors or omissions are our responsibility.
Keywords
- Earnings forecast
- Experience
- Security analyst
- Underreaction
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Accounting
- Finance
- Economics and Econometrics