Purpose: To investigate the usefulness of the Economic Value Added Momentum ratio and to determine if Swedish non-real estate, non-financial companies been either positively or negatively affected by their Corporate Real Estate structure from an EVAM perspective. Design/methodology/approach: Using a regression analysis composed of the OMX large and mid cap non-real estate, non-financial companies, investigates the relationship between companies’ real estate holdings and their ability to sustain a positive EVAM. The study covers the time period from 2006 to 2009 and includes 172 observations. Findings: The data showed that a negative relationship between EVAM and PPTY at the 10% real estate intensity interval might exist. However, no evidence was found that might suggest that a negative relationship between EVAM and corporate real estate holdings at the higher (15% real estate intensity) or the lower (5% real estate intensity) existed. This could suggest that companies’ that own lower percentages of real estate assets (less than 5% of PPTY) are not affecting their EVAM value and that companies’ that own larger amount of real estate (15% of PPTY or higher) are better at managing their real estate assets and thus it is not negatively impacting their EVAM. Research Implications: Real estate is reported at historical cost rather than at current fair market values. As the economy has, historically, enjoyed more periods of expansions than contractions, intuitive companies’ real estate assets are undervalued. Economic recession and booms can also dilute both the positive and negative aspects of real estate ownership. Although this investigation seeks to neutralize this phenomenon by including two periods of economic expansion and two periods of economic recession, it is unreasonable to claim that this will completely neutralize this affect. Practical Implications: The companies that have a PPTY of between 10% and 15% might be better off selling their real estate holdings or investing additional funds in real estate so as to either have a PPTY below 10% or above 15%. Companies that are in-between the 10% and 15% real estate ownership segment might not deem it cost effective to have specific real estate professionals or to invest in real estate know-how; however, the firms’ might at the same time own too much real estate, making it too costly to do nothing. Consequently, the companies could be better off deciding on a particular strategy: owning more real estate or owning less real estate. Originality/Value: Investigates if a linkage between a company’s ability to generate a positive EVAM and a company’s quantity of real estate assets exists.

Background Equity research analysts publish reports containing recommendations and target prices for stocks. A lot of research has been carried out on the subject of accuracy in earnings per share forecasts. Studies have also been made regarding target price accuracy on different markets and for bigger companies. This study concerns the target price accuracy on the Swedish market and for companies from the lists OMX Stockholm Small Cap-, Mid Cap- and Large Cap. The difference from earlier studies is therefore the focus on target price accuracy difference between large and small companies. Aim The aim of this thesis is to analyze the target price accuracy on the Swedish market and compare this accuracy between big and small companies to see if there is any connection between company size and target price accuracy. Completion The study has been conducted with a quantitative method and a deductive approach. Data for 98 companies on the Swedish market has been collected to be able to calculate the absolute forecasting error for three, six- and twelve-month horizons. The absolute forecasting error is then analysed through a regression to be able to see if there is any connection between the absolute forecasting error and the variables beta, difference between highest and lowest target price, difference between target price and actual price, market capitalization, sales, trading volume and volatility. The accuracy has also been studied by looking at if the target price has been reached during the same time horizons. Results The results of this study show that the ratios of achieved buy recommendations and hold recommendations are higher for constituents of OMX Stockholm Large Cap whilst sell recommendations are more often achieved for OMX Stockholm Small Cap and OMX Stockholm Mid Cap constituents. Most differences are statistically significant at least at a 5% level of significance. The regressions show that at three and six-month horizons a higher Beta and trading volume leads to a smaller absolute forecasting error. Increased discrepancy, absolute target price potential, market capitalization, sales and volatility lead to a higher absolute forecasting error. At a twelve-month horizon, the absolute forecasting error has a positive relationship with discrepancy, absolute target price potential, market capitalization, trading volume and volatility. Beta and sales show a negative relationship with the absolute forecasting error. / Bakgrund Aktieanalytiker publicerar ofta rapporter innehållandes riktkurser och rekommendationer. Det har gjorts många studier på ämnet träffsäkerhet för vinst per aktie prognoser. Det har även gjorts studier på riktkursträffsäkerhet på andra marknader samt främst för stora bolag. Denna studie behandlar riktkursträffsäkerheten på den svenska marknaden för företag från listorna OMX Stockholm Small Cap- , Mid Cap- och Large Cap. Skillnaden från tidigare studier är alltså att fokus ligger på skillnader i riktkursträffsäkerhet mellan små och stora bolag. Syfte Syftet med denna studie är att beräkna aktieanalytikers träffsäkerhet avseende riktkurs på den svenska aktiemarknaden och jämföra denna träffsäkerhet mellan större och mindre bolag för att se om den skiljer sig åt. Genomförande Studien har genomförts med en kvantitativ metod och deduktiv ansats. Data för 98 bolag på den svenska marknaden har samlats in för att beräkna det absoluta prognosfelet för perioderna tre, sex och tolv månader efter utgiven riktkurs. Detta prognosfel har sedan undersökts genom regressioner för att se om det finns ett samband med variablerna beta, diskrepans mellan högsta och lägsta riktkurs, absolut kurspotential, marknadsvärde, omsättning, handelsvolym och volatilitet. Dessa variabler har valts då de visat skilja sig signifikant mellan stora och små bolag. Träffsäkerheten har även undersökts genom att analysera om aktiekursen någon gång uppgår till riktkursen under samma tidsspann som för det absoluta prognosfelet. Resultat Resultatet i denna studie visar att andelen uppnådda köp-och behållrekommendationer är högre för bolag tillhörande OMX Stockholm Large Cap medan säljrekommendationer uppnås oftare för bolag tillhörande OMX Stockholm Small Cap och OMX Stockholm Mid Cap. De flesta skillnaderna är statistisk signifikanta vid minst 5% signifikansnivå. Regressionerna visar att på tre samt sex månaders sikt leder högre Beta och handelsvolym till mindre absolut prognosfel. Ökad diskrepans, absolut kurspotential, marknadsvärde, omsättning och volatilitet ger ett högre prognosfel. På tolv månaders sikt uppvisar diskrepans, absolut kurspotential, marknadsvärde, handelsvolym samt volatilitet ett positivt samband med absolut prognosfel. Beta och omsättning har ett negativt samband.

Current multifactor valuation pricing models use size (measured by market capitalization) of a firm as one factor to determine the value of a security. The problem with current standard models was that none of them could explain the value of a security consistently and accurately based on current factors and in particular the size factor. The purpose of this quantitative study using existing time-series data over a 10-year period from 2006 to 2015 was to examine the impact of size factor on the realized rate of return of financial securities, while controlling for the impact of market rate of return. There are currently many valuation models but there is no 2-factor model or a model that uses a size factor that includes mid-cap sized securities. The research questions examined mid-cap sized securities for the size factor in a 2-factor model to determine the accuracy of predicting financial returns compared to the current standard Fama-French 3-factor model. The main theoretical framework that guided the study was the efficient market hypothesis that postulates that the price of a stock reflects all relevant available information. Data were collected for historical returns of 15 individual firms and portfolios of securities based on size. Multiple regression analysis methodology was used to examine the impact of size factor on the realized rate of return of financial securities, while controlling for the impact of market rate of return in the modified 2-factor model that included mid-caps. The results of the study indicate that size is a statistically significant factor in a 2-factor model that included mid-caps. The positive social impact of this study is that it could provide greater confidence in financial markets by providing a fair and equitable means of investment and flow of capital for a robust economy.

Market multiples are a common and simple tool for estimation of corporate value. It can express temporal dynamics and differences in markets, industries and firms. Despite their practical usefulness, some critical problems remains which continue to be debated. This thesis investigates if there exists characteristics for explaining market capitalization by market multiples within the life science industry in Sweden. The approach follows well known theory of multiple linear regression analysis. The results indicated only a linear relationship between the market cap and the R\&D expenditures of a company. This does not mean that the other explanatory variables does not have effect on market cap only that there is no linear relationship that could be statistically proven. / Värderingsmultiplar är ett vanligt och enkelt verktyg för att approximera företags värde. Det kan beskriva temporär dynamik och skillnader hos marknader, industrier och bolag. Trots dess praktiska användbarhet finns en del kritiska problem som fortfarande debatteras. Denna uppsats undersöker om det existerar några egenskaper för att förklara marknadsvärdet med hjälp av värderingsmultiplar inom life science industrin i Sverige. Tillvägagångssättet följer välkänd teori om multipel linjär regressions analys. Resultaten visade att det endast finns ett samband mellan marknadsvärdet och utgifter för forskning och utveckling för ett bolag. Detta innebär inte att de andra variablerna inte har någon effekt på marknadsvärdet, utan att det inte finns ett linjärt samband som kan bevisas på ett statistiskt vis.

This paper examines the relationship between research and development (R&D) expenditures under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and firms’ innovation, proxied by future patent counts and patent citations. Accounting for R&D is a major difference between IFRS and generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (US GAAP). The difference is that certain development costs can be treated as assets under IFRS, but all R&D expenditures are expensed under US GAAP. This difference in the accounting treatment is grounded in the conceptual question of whether R&D expenditures provide future benefits, consistent with the definition of an asset, or whether the benefits are so uncertain that they are treated as the consumption of resources, consistent with the definition of an expense. If R&D expenditures provide future benefits, they are expected to be associated with future patents and citations. Capitalized development costs should exhibit a stronger association as they meet the criteria to be assets, expecting to provide future benefits. Expensed R&D can also be associated with patents and patent citations as these expenditures may also lead to patents and patent citations. As expensed R&D relates to expenditures in the research stage or those development costs that do not meet the criteria to be capitalized, the association should be weaker. Therefore, this paper examines the association between R&D expenditures that are expensed and those that are capitalized under IFRS with patents and patent citations as future benefits.Using a hand-collected sample of high-tech firms in European Union from 2012 to 2018, this paper finds economically and statistically significant different associations between capitalized development costs and expensed R&D and a firms’ innovation, as proxied by future patents and patent citations. Using median effects, the association between one million euros investment in firms’ capitalized development costs and patent counts (citations) is 200% or more than the association between one million euro’s expensed R&D and patent counts (citations). This paper is one of the first to examine the relationship between R&D capitalization under IFRS and firms’ innovation, as measured by future patent counts and patent citations. This paper contributes to the literature on R&D capitalization by identifying the fundamental difference in the association between capitalized development costs and expensed R&D and innovation. Further, this paper contributes to our understanding of the accounting for R&D, and the different treatment between US GAAP and IFRS by finding that capitalized development costs display a different association from expensed R&D. / Business Administration/Accounting

In the first paper the effect of accessibility upon rent is investigated for office properties located in Downtown Stockholm. Starting from the firm’s cost minimization problem, a translog hedonic model is derived. The results suggest the model has good predictive power in explaining the variation in the log of the rent. A negative rent gradient is obtained with a base approximately 90 meters from the postulated focal point. It appears as if Space Syntax adds important information to the understanding of the intraurban office rent pattern. The second paper investigates assumed capitalisation rates in 3026 discounted cash flow valuations of office properties in Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö during the time period 1998-2004. The study investigates determinants of property-level variation in cap rates and how going in and exit cap rates relate to each other. Exit cap rates exhibit substantial variation across properties. Part of this cross-sectional variation can be attributed to the location of the property, part of it is due to other characteristics of the property. Exit cap rates are differentiated between properties of the same type on the same market segment, which shows that valuers apply property level fine-tuning when setting exit cap rates. Properties with low market rent and high long-run vacancy assumption typically have high exit cap rates. Properties in peripheral parts of a city typically have higher exit cap rates than properties in central parts. The implicitly assumed going-in cap rate (defined as assumed net operating income year one divided by estimated market value) follows a similar pattern as the exit cap rate but exhibits more temporary, property-specific variation. Going-in cap rates are strongly influenced by temporary deviations of vacancy rates and rents from assumed “normal” levels of vacancy and rent. The difference between going-in and exit cap rates is influenced by assumed short-run growth in net operating income in the way stipulated by theory: high assumed short-run growth is associated with going-in cap rates being lower than exit cap rates. / QC 20101115

This study extends a previously developed model of real estate capitalization rates. The preceding model suggests that real estate cap rates are a function of debt and equity spreads over the real risk free rate. In an effort to further the previous research, the effects that commercial real estate mortgage markets have on cap rates is considered. Mortgage originations and debt service coverage ratios are used to proxy the effects of the commercial mortgage market. The empirical results reconfirm the significance of debt and equity spreads. Furthermore, mortgage markets are shown to have a significant effect on capitalization rates. These results help to explain contributing factors to the real estate bubble of 2007.

國外住宅租金普遍具有復歸性質，理性投資者應考慮此性質，於市場高峰期預期較低的未來租金成長率，而以較高資本化率進行評價，於市場谷底期預期較高的未來租金成長率，以較低的資本化率進行評價。故理性預期將導致市場波動穩定。近年相關研究發現，英國投資者對未來租金成長的預期相對較美國及澳洲的投資者理性，投資者理性程度可能具地區差異。本研究利用向量自我迴歸模型驗證台北地區住宅租金具有復歸性質。利用追蹤資料迴歸分析實證台北地區住宅資本化率資料，探討投資者是否具理性預期；研究發現投資者的評價未考慮租金的賦歸性質，不具理性預期，於市場租金低迷時期過於悲觀，於市場租金快速成長時期過於樂觀。此外，本研究探討投資者理性預期的地區差異，發現市場資訊流通較高的台北市，投資者預期相對較台北縣合理，其市場資本化率波動亦較穩定。顯示投資者理性程度對於住宅市場的穩定性具有重要意義。 / Housing rents are widely considered to be mean or trend reverting overseas. Rational investors should consider the reverting potential of rents so that they would expect lower / higher future rental growth rates at rental cyclic peaks / troughs, hence higher / lower capitalization rates. Investors with rationality could appropriately value their housing property, hence they help stability of housing market. Recent studies have found more rationality in the expectations of rental growth of English investors relative to the U.S. and Australian investors. In this study, we use a vector autoregression model to examine the reverting nature of housing rents in Taipei. We use a panel data regression analysis to explore the rationality of housing investors by examining the relationship between current rent level and capitalization rates. The empirical results suggest that investors were too pessimistic / optimistic while rent level is relatively low / high, they have not built the reverting nature of rents into their valuations / or their capitalization rates. Further, we have found more irrationality in Taipei County than that in Taipei City, as a result of the information sufficiency in Taipei City. Hence the volatility of capitalization rates in Taipei County is greater than in Taipei City, indicating that investor rationality plays an important role in housing market.

Recent failure of such companies as Enron, Worldcom and Parmala showed that there are internal reasons contributing to company’s financial distress. Financial distress is a condition when a company fails to meet its debt obligations. Board of directors is liable for long-term decisions and their ineffective work in monitoring and controlling management can influence companies’ performance. With that in mind, in this degree project, we would like to answer the following research question: “What is the relationship between characteristics of Board and probability of financial distress, measured by Altman’s Z-score models in Sweden and Denmark?”   The epistemological and ontological choices for our study were positivism and objectivism with deductive approach. We have calculated Z-scores of Swedish and Danish companies in order to detect distressed and healthy companies. Further on, the information about board composition in each company was collected; mainly we were interested in board independence, board size, board ownership, COB ownership, CEO duality and employee representatives.   In order to examine if there is a relationship between board composition and financial distress, we have done Multiple and Binary Regression analyses. Based on the results we can state that board independence, board ownership and employee representatives and market capitalization (control variable) have significant relationship with probability of financial distress. Our study is interesting since we have looked at employee representatives, as a board characterectic that is specific for Nordic countries and that was not studied before. In addition, we have found that there is no CEO duality in Sweden and Denmark, since all companies in our sample followed the Companies’ Acts. COB ownership, the additional variable we wanted to test and board size have shown no significant relationship.

! ! Abstract This thesis explores and analyses influence of smartphones, tablets and e-readers launch on today's media development both from publisher's and media consumer's view. Main goal of this work is to map turbulent media evolution thanks possibilities, brought by revolutionary devices especially iPhone and iPad and their impact on publishing houses and traditional media. The thesis envisages the future of printed media and its co-existing together with the digital versions of traditional titles, possibilities and consumer willingness to pay for the digital content and specifics of the copyright in the digital media world. Least but not last thesis tries to discover individual target groups of each media including their typical behavior and arguing over the diversion from the traditional media towards the digital media.