Working papers - academic research on economy aimed at enhancing the knowledge about economic processes, problems and trends through development of new theories and concepts. The results of these studies are published in leading international journals, as for example SAGE Knowledge, Journal of Economic Development, Research Policy (Science Direct), Baltic Journal of Economics, Eastern Economic Journal and etc.
Ilona Babenko|Yuri Tserlukevich|Pengcheng Wan| 30.09.2015
Is Market Timing Good for Shareholders?
We challenge the view that equity market timing always benefits shareholders. By distinguishing the effect of a firm's equity decisions from the effect of mispricing itself, we show that market timing can decrease shareholder value. Additionally, the timing of equity sales has a more negative effect on existing shareholders than the timing of share repurchases. Our theory can be used to infer firms' maximization objectives from their observed market timing strategies. We argue that the popularity of stock buybacks and the low frequency of seasoned equity offerings are consistent with managers maximizing current shareholder value.