Download or read book The Disposition Effect and Investors' Reaction to Earnings Announcements written by and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper analyzes the way in which the disposition effect, which is the tendency to realize gains before losses, influences investors' reaction to earnings announcements. The research investigates the impact of this behavioral bias both in the announcement window and in the medium term, using a single sample for both the analyses; the sample covers earnings announcements of US stocks between year 1992 and 2014. I find that those stocks that are in aggregate loss tend to perform better during the announcement window than those that are in aggregate gain, ceteris paribus. In the medium term, this market inefficiency is cancelled out, and those stocks that are in positive capital gain at the moment of the announcement perform better in the following sixty trading days than those trading at a loss; the relative difference in performance generates quarterly alphas of almost 300 basis points. The influence of the disposition effect is also certified by a reversion of this reaction for those earnings announcements that take place during December; due to tax reasons, investors realize losses rather than gains during December, producing then an opposite reaction to earnings announcements. The final proof of the influence of the disposition effect comes from the analysis of volumes: during the announcement window, investors are more prone to trade stocks that are in aggregate gain, generating thus a higher trading volume for these stocks; this effect is reverted during December.