Style Evolution, Equity Issuance, and International Value Premium

Akiko Watanabe
2008 Social Science Research Network  
This paper studies how value-glamour style evolution, or the variation in firms' book-tomarket ratios over time, helps explain the value premium in international markets. The style evolution reflects information about the firms' accounting-based performance, stock return, and net equity issuance. The net share issuance has the strongest ability to predict future cross-sectional returns in developed markets, whereas such an effect is absent in emerging markets. The global net issuance factor,
more » ... en by a zero-investment portfolio that goes long net stock repurchasers and short net issuers from the developed markets, yields a significant premium of 4.68% per annum over the last quarter century. The exposure to the global issuance factor significantly explains the returns on global value and glamour portfolios. JEL Classification: G15
doi:10.2139/ssrn.1263890 fatcat:iuimfthvevghngank7f6fssqwm