This thesis examines returns around earnings announcements for companies with seasonality in earnings. Earnrank is used as a measure of seasonality where earnrank for a company is calculated quarterly by taking last five years of earnings data, ranking them and taking the average of the ranks for the respective quarter. For seasonal firms, we find robust evidence that abnormal returns are created when such firms announce their earnings for the highest seasonality quarter as measured by their earnrank. Additionally, the results were consistent for different time periods and abnormal returns were found to increase over time. We also performed the analysis industry-wise and found significant difference in returns for most and least seasonal firms in Manufacturing, Financial and Construction sectors. The results for Construction sector is in conflict to our hypothesis and require further exploration. We also study which kind of firms exhibit seasonality and found evidence for high seasonality in large firms, value firms, old firms, firms with lower turnover and firms with lower accruals. Lastly, we studied factors determining abnormal returns relative to the four-factor model and found size to be a significant explanatory variable. The long-short portfolio based on seasonality generated an alpha of 62 basis points per month. / Master of Science / This thesis examines returns around earnings announcements for companies with seasonality in earnings. Earning Seasonality is a phenomenon wherein firms show predictably higher earnings in one quarter of the year due to the underlying cyclical nature of the firms business. The quarter with the highest earnings is termed as positive seasonality quarter. Earnrank is used as a measure of seasonality where earnrank for a company is calculated quarterly by taking last five years of earnings data, ranking them and taking the average of the ranks for the respective quarter. For seasonal firms, we find robust evidence that abnormal returns are created when such firms announce their earnings for the highest seasonality quarter as measured by their earnrank. Additionally, the results were consistent for different time periods and abnormal returns were found to increase over time. We also performed the analysis industry-wise and found significant difference in returns for most and least seasonal firms in Manufacturing, Financial and Construction sectors. The results for Construction sector is in conflict to our hypothesis and require further exploration. We also study which kind of firms exhibit seasonality and found evidence for high seasonality in large firms, value firms, old firms, firms with lower turnover and firms with lower accruals. Lastly, we studied factors determining abnormal returns relative to the four-factor model and found size to be a significant explanatory variable. The long-short portfolio based on seasonality generated an alpha of 62 basis points per month.

In today's society there is an increasing globalization. This may create a challenge for publicly- owned firms to make its stocks more attractive in the market for the investors all around the world. One method firms could use to attract new investors is through engagement in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities; which has in the recent years received a lot of notable attention. On the occasion that there exist different types of CSR activities it would be beneficial for firms to receive broader knowledge about the different impacts that the different activities have on a firm's stock price. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis is to contribute to the literature by investigating if different types of CSR activities have different degree of impact on a firm’s stock price; and if so, which type of activity that would be more preferable for firms to undertake in order to increase their stock price. The effect of a firm’s engagement in CSR activities was studied by the use of an event study. The event study was centered on a firm’s announcements of CSR activities of type environmental, ethical and philanthropic. All the firms considered in the study are American firms and they were all listed on the New York stock exchange (NYSE). The time period used in the study were the years between 2006 and 2016. However, the year of 2008 was excluded because of the financial crisis. To measure whether CSR has an effect on a firm’s stock price a t-test was conducted based on the cumulative average abnormal return (CAAR). A sign test was also performed based on the number of positive CAR’s in the estimation window compared to those in the event window. The cumulative abnormal return (CAR) was also considered in order to draw further conclusions. The study found that a firm’s engagement in CSR did overall, have a positive effect on a firm’s stock price. Further, by studying the results from the various activities; the results show that a firm’s engagement in environmental and ethical CSR activities also have a positive effect on the stock price. Meanwhile, it appeared that philanthropic CSR had no impact on the stock price. To answer the question of which type of CSR activities that is the most beneficial for a firm to engage in if they intend to increase its stock price is to invest in environmental CSR activities.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karol. inst., 2003. / Härtill 5 uppsatser.

Företag på den svenska marknaden kan sedan år 2000 välja att köpa tillbaka egna aktier på en öppen marknad. Vid initieringen av aktieåterköp är företag obligerade att annonsera till marknaden att de planerar att återköpa aktier. Aktieåterköpsannonseringar har visat sig påverka aktiekursen positivt, detta tolkas som en signal till marknaden innehållandes relevant information från företagsledare. Sverige är ett av få länder där företag är obligerade att redogöra för motiv bakom återköp vilket gör det möjligt att undersöka hur marknaden reagerar beroende på angivna motiv. Syftet med denna studie är därför att undersöka huruvida det finns skillnader i marknadens reaktion beroende på informationen i och kring annonseringar om aktieåterköpsprogram. Övrig information som undersöks i samband med annonseringen är aktiens prestation under perioden innan annonseringen, företags kassa samt storleken på företaget.  Den abnormala avkastningen används som ett mått för marknadens reaktion och tas fram genom en eventstudie. Resultatet från undersökningen visar att motivet kapitalstruktur påverkar den abnormala avkastningen. Vidare är effekten större för företag vars aktie upplevt negativ avkastning trettio dagar innan annonseringen. Studien visar även att företagsstorlek påverkar marknadens reaktion vid annonsering. Till sist visar resultatet att företags kassastorlek har påverkan på den abnormala avkastningen vid aktieåterköpsannonseringar.

The decisions of the federal government such as new legislation, bills and reforms can have serious implications for the financial markets, especially in terms of corporate profitability and shareholder value. As the overseers of federal agencies, U.S. Senators are arguably the most important participants in these decision making processes, in addition to being the most informed investors in the market. As such, Senators may be able to capitalize on their superior networks and information through stock trading. The portfolios traded on such insider information should generate abnormal returns against the market index. This study conducts an analysis of the abnormal returns on common stock purchases reported by U.S. Senators between 1995 and 2012. This paper recreates congressional buy portfolio using a consistent methodology throughout the entire sample period considered by earlier studies. While the sample size is reduced, the methodology used in this analysis relies on actual transactions dates to maximize accuracy. An analysis of the abnormal returns of the common stock investments of U.S. Senators during the period 1995 – 2012 shows that Senators are generally poor investors: purchases made by senators underperform the market index by approximately 3% a year.

Pressureless-sintering of non-stoichiometric barium titanate (BaTiO3) powder of TiO2-excess compositions has been investigated. Crystalline phases were analysed by X-ray diffractometry. Attention has been paid to the analysis of the corresponding sintered microstructure by adopting scanning and transmission electron microscopy. Large plate-like grains grown abnormally containing {111} double twin lamellae are commonly found in low-temperature (1332oC) sintered BaTiO3, by presence of a liquid phase, or by twinning, or as discussed in this experiments by partial dislocations. Samples were sintered in air at 1250oC for 1¡B4 and 50 h. In this respect, the emphasis is discussed about the role of the partial dislocations in the early stage of twin formation. Both analytic dislocations exist on the {111} double twin lamellae within abnormal grain and the interface between abnormal grain and normal grain. In the experimental process, dislocation type with the Burgers vector ‹110› and ‹112› has been found except for the ‹111›. For the Burgers vector ‹110› in the perovskite structure, it is possible to envisage that edge dislocations with [100] Burgers vector can be dissociated in their climb plane ([100] ¡÷ 1/2[101] + 1/2[10 ]). Moreover, the perovskite structure has been deformed form ‹110› dislocation (perfect dislocation). Oppositely, the [112] Burgers vector has been formed both partial dislocation type and perfect dislocation type. For sintering at 50 h, we can conjecture the grain growth mold by Shockley or Frank partial dislocation affect on the macroscopic step. Experimental results show that Shockley and Frank partial dislocations have not been found on the {111} double twin lamellae.

No description available.

Dynamic abnormal grain growth (DAGG) in commercial-purity molybdenum sheets was investigated through a series of tensile tests at temperatures between 1450°C and 1800°C. DAGG is abnormal grain growth (AGG) which requires the presence of concurrent plastic strain. Most AGG phenomena previously documented in the literature can be categorized as static abnormal grain growth (SAGG) because they occur during static annealing, sometimes following plastic strain, but do not occur during plastic deformation. The DAGG boundary migration rate is much faster than the SAGG boundary migration rate, and DAGG may be utilized to obtain large single crystals in the solid state. Dynamic abnormal grains were found to exhibit a crystallographic orientation preference with respect to the specimen geometry, generally described as derivative from a <101> fiber texture. DAGG was found to prefer growth on the surface of the specimen rather than the interior. The growth of dynamic abnormal grains, which initiated and grew during plastic straining, generally ceased when the application of plastic strain was removed. The DAGG boundary migration rate was found to be a direct function of plastic strain accumulation, regardless of the strain-rate. Therefore, it is hypothesized that the rapid boundary migration rate during DAGG results from an enhanced mobility of certain boundaries. A model is proposed based on the rate of boundary unpinning, as mediated by the emission of dislocations from pinning sites. / text

Abstract In 2019 e-commerce market become one of the most important part to push the global economic growth especially in China and US. In 2020 Covid-19 has widely spread around the world which caused a severe economic crisis, but e-commerce market has gained benefit from it. In this study will discuss how e-commerce will perform in future and how e-commerce reacts and defend in this crisis. This study used method of discounted cash flow to track the fundamental information of EC market as representative of Alibaba and Amazon, also used event study method to test influence of COVID-19 in the whole industry

The primary objective of profit-maximizing companies has long been seen as satisfying its shareholders. However, this orthodox view of corporate governance has been modernized as corporate social responsibility have become more relevant. In essence, corporate sustainability performance has evolved and is now divided into environmental, social and corporate governance, also known as ESG, closely scrutinized by all stakeholders.  The main purpose of this study is to investigate how ESG disclosures about Swedish-listed companies affect their market value. By analyzing these results, using both conventional and complementary theories in behavioral finance, the researchers in this study also aspires to add new perspectives to the research field on why and how the market reacts as it does. This aim was then fulfilled by quantifying the impact of 195 ESG news on market capitalization using three-event studies.  The results are sufficiently reliable to confirm both hypotheses of the study. The findings support both theories and previous research in the sense that deviations from the social contract between firms and stakeholders damage firms' legitimacy. Furthermore, the study’s results show that market reactions are asymmetric. Firstly, with the implication that the negative impact of negative news exceeds the corresponding positive impact of positive news. Secondly, with the meaning that positive news results in a negative impact on market value.  This can be attributed to market psychological factors and other factors, such as Swedish investors' valuation of sustainability work. In addition, the opposite market reaction to positive news is consistent with studies suggesting that certain ESG news are perceived as greenwashing. Against this background, the study concludes that companies' sustainability work and ESG compliance are not profitable to the extent previously advocated. However, the indirect cost of not acting in a socially responsible manner is greater than the opposite. / Det primära målet för vinstmaximerande bolag har länge ansetts vara att tillfredsställa aktieägarna. Denna ortodoxa syn på bolagsstyrning har dock moderniserats i takt med att hållbarhet och samhällsansvar blivit mer aktuellt. I huvudsak har bolagens hållbarhetsarbete utvecklats och delas numera upp i miljöfrågor, sociala frågor och bolagsstyrning, även kallat ESG, något som noga granskas av intressenter.  Det primära syftet med denna studie är att undersöka ESG nyheters inverkan på svensknoterade bolags börsvärden. Genom att analysera dessa resultat, med såväl konventionella som kompletterande teorier inom beteendeekonomi, ämnar författarna även att kunna bidra med nya perspektiv till forskningen om hur, men även varför, marknaden reagerar som den gör. Detta syfte har sedan uppfyllts genom att kvantifiera 195 ESG nyheters inverkan på börsvärde med hjälp av tre eventstudier.  Resultaten är tillräckligt tillförlitliga för att bekräfta studiens båda hypoteser. Fynden stödjer såväl teorier som tidigare forskning, i den mening att avvikelser från det sociala kontraktet mellan företag och intressenter skadar företagens legitimitet. Vidare visar studiens resultat att marknadsreaktionerna är asymmetriska. I första hand i det avseendet att den negativa inverkan från negativa nyheter överstiger den positiva inverkan från positiva nyheter. I andra hand i den bemärkelsen att positiva nyheter leder till en negativ inverkan på marknadsvärde.  Detta kan hänföras till marknadspsykologiska faktorer och andra faktorer, som exempelvis svenska investerares värdering av hållbarhetsarbete. Vidare är den motsatta marknadsreaktionen till positiva nyheter i linje med studier som antyder att vissa ESG nyheter kan tolkas som grönmålning. Mot denna bakgrund konkluderar studien att bolagens hållbarhetsarbete och efterlevnad av ESG inte är lönsamt i den utsträckning som tidigare förespråkats. Dock är den indirekta kostnaden för att ej agera socialt ansvarsfullt större än motsatsen.