The last decades have seen a rapid increase of sustainable investing, also known as ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) investing. There has also been an increasing body of academic literature devoted to whether investors can gain any financial benefits from taking ESG under consideration. Previous literature of portfolio performance in terms of risk-adjusted returns has given much of its attention to best-in-class approaches, which is a strategy that selects top performers in ESG within a sector or industry. The purpose of this study is foremost to investigate a best-effort approach to ESG investing, which is a strategy that focuses on the top improvers in ESG. The purpose is further to compare this with a best-in-class approach, since the findings from earlier studies of this strategy still are inconsistent. The region chosen to perform this study in is the Eurozone. Several theories that have implications for portfolio studies and abnormal returns are taken under consideration in relation to the study and its findings. This includes the efficient market hypothesis, the adaptive market hypothesis and modern portfolio theory. The theoretical framework also cover asset-pricing models and the notions of risk-adjusted returns. A quantitative study with a deductive approach are used to form portfolios, with a Eurozone index as the investable universe. Best-effort and best-in-class portfolios as well as difference portfolios of the two approaches are created, based on ESG data and different cut-off rates for portfolio inclusion. As for risk-adjusted performance measure, the Carhart four-factor model are used. The overall results are mostly insignificant findings in terms of abnormal returns. However, three best-effort portfolios based on the top ESG improvers show significant positive abnormal returns. These findings are strongest for the environmental and social factor. As for the best-in-class approach, only the governance portfolios provided weakly significant results in terms of abnormal returns. Further, the study is not able to significantly distinguish between a best-effort and a best-in-class approach when it comes to risk-adjusted performance. The exception is the environmental factor based on the top performers in each approach, where the best-effort portfolio outperforms the best-in-class portfolio. Finally, none of the portfolios provided significant negative risk-adjusted returns. This can at least be considered as good news for ESG investing, since it indicates that investors do not have to sacrifice risk-adjusted returns in order to invest in a more sustainable way.

This paper aims to examine if firms listed on Nasdaq Stockholm with dividend exposure yield higher risk-adjusted returns than firms without dividend exposure. Using a data set consisting of observations between 2000-2017 we test the difference in mean risk-adjusted return, measured by the Sharpe ratio, between securities with different levels of dividend exposure. We divide our sample into portfolios, categorized in the first stage independently of investment style, size and book-to-market ratio, and in the second stage on dividend exposure, that are regrouped annually. We measure the performance in terms of the geometric mean monthly returns, the risk as standard deviation of returns and the risk-adjusted performance measured with the Sharpe ratio. Following our empirical study, we find indications of a value effect in the Swedish capital market and draw upon three main conclusions. First, for all but one portfolio, the risk decreases with an increased degree of dividend exposure. Second, securities with high-dividend exposure tend to yield higher risk-adjusted returns relative to securities with no-dividend exposure. Third, the effect of dividend exposure on risk-adjusted performance appears to be most significant on mid firms and growth firms

In this research we investigate the relationship between multifactor investing and Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and contribute to modern stock market prediction. We present the components for multifactor investing i.e. value, quality, size, low volatility & momentum as well as a methodology for ANN which provides the theory for the results. The return for the multifactor funds tested in this research is recorded below the benchmark used. However, the factors do have a dynamic relationship when testing for correlation and the multifactor regression analysis showed a high explanatory power (R2) for the funds. Based on the methodology of an ANN we establish that it is possible to use the knowledge from multifactor investing to train the technology with. When summarizing peer reviewed journals, we find that momentum have already been recurrently used in previous stock market prediction systems based on ANN, but the remaining factors have not. We conclude that there is an opportunity to use several factors to train an ANN due to their dynamic relationship and unique characteristics.

O recente surgimento dos negócios com impacto socioambiental, que visam gerar resultados positivos do ponto de vista social e/ou ambiental, impulsionou o debate acadêmico no campo do empreendedorismo social. Simultaneamente, novas formas de viabilizar financeiramente esses empreendimentos emergiram, fomentando o nascimento dos investimentos de impacto. Com isso, um novo ecossistema desponta, constituído por atores que cumprem papéis complementares no fomento, apoio e acompanhamento dos negócios com impacto socioambiental. Apesar do avanço científico acerca desse fenômeno ser notável, existe uma lacuna a respeito do conjunto de competências que compõem o perfil do empreendedor social à frente desse tipo de empreendimento. Desenhou-se, então, um estudo qualitativo de caráter descritivo-exploratório, com o objetivo de levantar, junto a investidores em negócios de impacto, suas expectativas em relação ao perfil desses empreendedores. A partir da revisão bibliográfica realizada para este estudo, dezoito organizações foram identificadas como investidoras de impacto, das quais quinze aceitaram o convite para contribuir com a pesquisa, por meio de entrevistas individuais, semiestruturadas. Como resultado, as competências mais citadas espontaneamente pelos entrevistados foram, em ordem decrescente: desenvolvimento e manutenção de relacionamentos; gestão administrativa; adaptabilidade; mapeamento de oportunidades e tendências; orientação para aprendizado e inovação; persuasão; e gestão de riscos. Entretanto, as conclusões da pesquisa demonstram que as competências não costumam ser empregadas como critérios para a decisão do investimento em si. Alguns mecanismos são utilizados para compreender o perfil do empreendedor como um todo, tais como: questionários individuais, visitas ao local do empreendimento para observar a dinâmica do empreendedor com sua equipe e clientes, e referências cruzadas com membros da rede do empreendedor. Aproximadamente metade dos entrevistados citou espontaneamente a importância dos investimentos de impacto para o crescimento e evolução dos negócios investidos, especialmente por oferecerem uma contribuição estratégica e gerencial, além do aporte financeiro. De uma maneira geral, os investidores entrevistados salientaram a intenção de colaborar com os empreendedores, criando uma atmosfera positiva para a construção de um relacionamento de longo prazo. Por meio de análise comparativa entre as entrevistas realizadas, identificou-se que os investidores possuem uma visão homogênea em relação ao perfil dos empreendedores sociais e dos empreendedores tradicionais, pois não foram apontadas diferenças significativas entre eles. Para dez dos entrevistados, o único elemento diferenciador é a intenção que os empreendedores de negócios com impacto socioambiental têm de resolver questões sociais ou ambientais. As contribuições desta pesquisa estão relacionadas, portanto, à evolução do campo acadêmico e prático dos negócios socioambientais no Brasil. Com esse estudo, foi possível identificar e descrever o conjunto de competências esperadas no perfil do empreendedor social, a partir da perspectiva dos investidores. Investigações similares não foram identificadas na literatura até o momento, reforçando a necessidade, então, de novas pesquisas na área. / The recent emergence of social businesses, which aims at generating positive results from a social and/or environmental perspective, has fostered the academic debate in the social entrepreneurship field. Concurrently, new ways of financially enabling these businesses have emerged, boosting the growth of impact investing. Hence, a new ecosystem arises, composed by agents that play complementary roles in promoting, supporting and monitoring of social impact businesses. Despite the significant scientific progress on this phenomenon, there is a gap concerning the set of competencies that composes the profile of social entrepreneurs leading these enterprises. Thus, a qualitative research of both descriptive and explanatory nature was designed with the intent of raising, along with investors of social businesses, their expectation regarding the profile of these entrepreneurs. From the literature review done for this study, eighteen organizations were identified as impact investors, of which fifteen accepted the request to contribute with individual and semi-structured interviews. As a result, the most spontaneously cited competencies among the interviewees were, in descending order: the development and maintenance of relationships; the administrative management; adaptability; the mapping of opportunities and tendencies; orientation towards learning and innovation; persuasion; and risk management. Nevertheless, the results of this research show that these competencies are not used as criteria to decide on the social investing. Some of the tools used to understand the profile of entrepreneurs, as a whole, are: individual surveys, on-site visits to observe the dynamic of the entrepreneur with his team and clients, and checking references with the entrepreneurs\' network members. Nearly half of the interviewees voluntarily cited the importance of impact investing to the growth and development of the businesses that received these investments, especially because they were offered both strategic and administrative contribution, not to mention the capital injection. In general, the interviewed investors have emphasized the intention to collaborate with the entrepreneurs, by creating a positive atmosphere in order to build a long term relationship. By comparing and analyzing the interviews, we identified that investors have a homogenous mindset regarding the profile of both social entrepreneurs and traditional entrepreneurs, as no major disparities were attributed among them. Their intention of coming to terms with both social and environmental matters is the only element in ten out of the fifteen interviewed entrepreneurs of social businesses. In this sense, this research contribution is related to the progress for both academic and pragmatic fields of social businesses in Brazil. This study enables identifying and describing the expected set of competencies of a social entrepreneur, from the investor\'s perspective. Similar examinations have not been identified so far, reinforcing the need for further research in this field.

Ao longo do tempo atribuiu-se a geração de valor econômico-financeiro às organizações empresariais atuantes no mercado das relações capitalistas e a geração de valor social às organizações do terceiro setor. Essa aparente dualidade vem sendo questionada no âmbito do empreendedorismo, provocando o surgimento do fenômeno do investimento de impacto como uma alternativa que possibilita a alocação de capital em iniciativas e empreendimentos, os chamados negócios sociais, que visam criar impacto social positivo acompanhado de retorno financeiro. A emergência de investidores e empreendedores de negócios sociais tem provocado polêmicas e reflexões acerca da avaliação de impacto, da taxa de retorno do investimento de impacto e também de conceitos essenciais para fundamentar as operações de investimento, como valor social e impacto socioambiental. Neste cenário, o presente trabalho teve como objetivo analisar as percepções dos diferentes grupos de atores do ecossistema brasileiro de negócios sociais e investimento de impacto sobre esses temas e sobre suas experiências no setor - desafios, oportunidades e aprendizados. Foi desenhada uma pesquisa exploratória de abordagem qualitativa, cujo problema de investigação foi o levantamento de opiniões, percepções e expectativas de representantes de três grupos de atores desse ecossistema: investidores interessados em negócios sociais; empreendedores e executivos de negócios sociais; e representantes de organizações intermediárias, como aceleradoras e fundos de investimento. A partir da construção de um referencial teórico e da análise de dados secundários sobre o fenômeno estudado, realizou-se o levantamento de dados primários aplicando-se um roteiro para entrevista semiestruturada em uma amostra intencional composta por dezoito pessoas. A análise das respostas evidenciou que há uma grande diversidade de entendimentos sobre o conceito de valor social e que alguns entrevistados tendem a usar esse termo como sinônimo de impacto social. A maioria dos entrevistados ressaltou elementos relacionados ao acesso à educação, aos serviços de saúde e aos direitos de cidadania. Mas nenhum se referiu à gestão de resíduos sólidos como elemento gerador de valor social. Talvez por se tratar de empreendimentos relativamente recentes, não foi possível identificar em que grau os investidores de impacto estão contribuindo para que esses negócios potencializem a geração de valor social aos beneficiários finais. No entanto, todos os negócios sociais que receberam investimento de impacto afirmaram que os investidores estão contribuindo para o desenvolvimento de seus negócios. Sobre a taxa de retorno do investimento, as opiniões dos entrevistados divergiram, mas a maioria deles entende que, no médio e longo prazo, as taxas de retorno deveriam seguir as taxas médias de mercado. A avaliação de impacto pré-investimento ainda é mais aproximativa do que baseada em indicadores de impacto social, porém todos os atores dos grupos de oferta de capital e demanda de capital que receberam investimento afirmaram que a geração de valor social é monitorada pelos investidores após o aporte de recursos. Os principais desafios apontados foram o acesso e o volume de capital, as restrições próprias do contexto econômico brasileiro e a imaturidade do setor. Todos consideram, porém, que o setor de negócios sociais e os investimentos de impacto têm futuro promissor no Brasil, seja pela necessidade de resolução dos inúmeros problemas sociais e ambientais, seja pelo tamanho do mercado de potenciais beneficiários dessas iniciativas. Nesse sentido, o presente trabalho espera contribuir para o avanço teórico e prático das questões e dilemas enfrentados pelo empreendedorismo social e pelo setor de investimento de impacto, bem como para fomentar o ecossistema brasileiro de Finanças Sociais. / Commonly, the creation of economic and financial value has been attributed to companies acting in the capitalist market relations while the creation of social value has been attributed to third sector organizations. This seeming duality is being questioned in the light of entrepreneurship, causing the emergence of the impact investing phenomenon as an alternative that allows capital to be allocated to initiatives and ventures, the so-called social businesses, which aim to create positive social impact together with financial returns. The rise of investors and entrepreneurs of social businesses has caused controversies and reflections about the impact evaluation, the rate of return for impact investments, and also the core concepts that support investment operations, such as social value and socio-environmental impact. In this scenario, this study aimed to analyze the perceptions of different groups of actors within the Brazilian social business and impact investing ecosystem related to these themes and their experiences in the sector - challenges, opportunities, and learnings. An exploratory research of qualitative approach has been designed, which research problem was a survey of opinions, perceptions and expectations of representatives of three groups of actors of this ecosystem: investors interested in social businesses; entrepreneurs and executives from social businesses; and representatives from intermediary organizations, such as accelerators and investment funds. Based on the construction of a theoretical framework and the analysis of secondary data on the studied phenomenon, a primary research has been conducted applying a script for semi-structured interview in an intentional sample of eighteen people. The analysis of the answers showed that there is a great diversity of understandings about the concept of social value and that some interviewees tend to use this term as a synonym for social impact. Most of the interviewees highlighted elements related to access to education, health services, and citizenship rights. But none of them referred to the solid waste management as a generator of social value. Perhaps because these are relatively recent ventures, it was not possible to identify the extent to which impact investors are contributing to the growth of social value creation to the final beneficiaries. However, all social businesses that received impact investments stated that investors are contributing to the development of their businesses. Regarding the rate of return on investment, the respondents\' opinions diverged, but most of them understood that, in the medium and long term, rates of return should follow average market rates. The pre-investment impact evaluation is still more approximate than based on social impact metrics, but all actors from the groups of investors and of social businesses which received investments stated that the generation of social value is monitored by investors after capital contribution. The main challenges are the access and volume of capital, the constraints of the Brazilian economic context, and the immaturity of the sector. However, all of them consider that the social business sector and impact investments have a promising future in Brazil, whether due to the need to solve the numerous social and environmental problems or due to the size of the market of potential beneficiaries of these initiatives. In this sense, this work hopes to contribute to the theoretical and practical advancement of the issues and dilemmas faced by the social entrepreneurship and the impact investment sector, as well as to foster the Brazilian Social Finance ecosystem.

Green bonds are a type of bonds that are designated for investment projects that have a positive effect on the environment. Such projects could be preventing climate change by reducing emissions of greenhouse gases, increasing energy-efficiency, or improving waste management. Green bonds have risen considerably in issued volume in recent years. Sweden has been one of the forerunners in this development and the interest towards these products seems to be high among individual Swedish investors. Initially, investors in green bonds have been mainly financial institutions, but there are an increasing number of mutual funds, which are aimed for retail banking customers as well. Previous research in socially responsible investing has not paid attention to green bonds from the perspective of the private, individual investor. This study is aimed to study potential individual green bond investors in Sweden. The purpose of this study was to answer the research question of who the typical Swedish green bond investors are, based on demographic characters. As research sub-questions, the thesis also answered questions regarding perceived risk and return on green bonds, and the effect of environmental attitude and behaviour on potential green bond investments. The study was carried out as an Internet survey by means of a questionnaire directed to Swedish investors. In total, 66 respondents answered the survey, which was analysed by bivariate and multivariate methods. Among the demographic factors, two were found statistically significant, age, and parenthood. In this sample younger investors (age less than 39), were found to prefer investing in green bonds, compared to older investors. Secondly, the fact of being a non-parent turned out to be a distinctive feature of current and potential investors in green bonds. The results regarding the first research sub-question, showed that the individual investors do not perceive green bonds to be more or less risky or give more or less return than comparable conventional bonds. The second research sub-question regarding environmental attitude and behaviour, showed a significant difference between those who showed a strong pro-environmental behaviour, as opposed to those who showed a weaker pro-environmental behaviour. The conclusion about the influence of environmental attitudes was that it did not have an effect on potential green bond investments.

Researchers recommended investing according to the long only momentum (MOM) strategy to generate excess returns for private investors. The general problem of this study was that it was unclear when to enter and when to exit declining financial markets to avoid larger losses and to improve the overall performance with the MOM strategy. Therefore, it was important to understand the influence of a timing indicator on the MOM strategy. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between different moving average (MA) settings, the MOM strategy, and the performance of the returns from the construction of small U.S. stock portfolios. The research question was what MA setting as a strategy adjustment could improve the MOM strategy performance for small portfolios of U.S. stocks. A quasi-experimental research design was chosen to answer this research question. For the methods and analysis, simple- and exponential- MA, 2 econometric models, and abnormal Sharpe ratios were computed on the sample basis of 30 Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) stocks. The computations allowed me to determine the optimal trading frequencies for the MA MOM strategy. The key result was that the MA MOM strategy could improve the MOM strategy on average by 0.16% per month. The optimal trading frequency for the MA MOM strategy with $5,000 was tri yearly through which (0.90 - 1.85 %) net monthly return could be achieved. The MOM strategy can be adjusted by a simple moving average (SMA) indicator on a 6 versus 36-month basis as a recommendation. This study might contribute to positive social change by adjusting the MOM strategy, which specifically impacts private investors in declining stock markets to improve the overall performance when trading the MA MOM strategy.

This thesis examines the application of genetic algorithms to the optimization of a composite set of technical indicator filters to confirm or reject buy signals in stock trading, based on probabilistic values derived from historical data. The simplicity of the design, which gives each filter within the composite filter the ability to act independently of the other filters, is outlined, and the cumulative indirect effect each filter has on all the others is discussed. This system is contrasted with the complexity of systems from previous research that attempt to merge several indicator filters together by giving each one a weight as a percentage of the whole, or which build a decision tree based rule comprised of several indicators. The detrimental effects of short-term market fluctuations on the effectiveness of the optimization are considered, and attempts to mitigate these effects by reducing the length of the optimization interval are discussed. Finally, the optimized indicators are used in simulated trading, using historical data. The results from the simulation are compared with the annual returns of the NASDAQ 100 Index on a yearly basis over a period of four years. The comparison shows that the composite indicator filter is proficient enough at filtering out inferior buy signals to substantially outperform the NASDAQ 100 Index during each year of the simulation.

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to develop and contribute with an improved understanding of socially responsible investing and its barriers within the asset management sector. To accomplish the purpose of this research, four areas have been investigated; sustainability, business models, socially responsible investing, and barriers for socially responsible investing. Method – Since the research aimed to use the existing theory, and at the same time explore and gain understanding within the area of sustainable, or responsible, investments, the research approach had iterative characteristics with theoretical and empirical findings. Therefore, an abductive research approach was chosen. For the gathering of data, a multiple case study was conducted by interviewing people working within asset management companies. For the analysis of the data, constant comparison, multilevel interviews, and thematic analysis were used. Results – First, the results indicate that socially responsible investments have greatly affected the business models for asset management companies, and responsible investments are starting to become more of a hygiene factor than a way of differentiation. Second, the most significant barrier for the increase of responsible investments is preconceptions and lack of knowledge. This barrier is rooted in an underlying issue, that is lack of transparency regarding asset management companies’ investments. Furthermore, the findings indicate that government actions within the market invested in, was not such a grand barrier as presented in the literature. Theoretical contributions – The main theoretical contribution with this research is the identification of the barrier preconceptions and lack of knowledge, as this is not highlighted in the literature, but among the asset management companies it was highly significant. By analyzing the findings with an institutional theory lens, it is an understandable behavior as there are no incentives for change, hence the managerial contributions consist of regulations.  Managerial contributions – The practical contributions with this report is the need for reformed regulations in the industry where asset management companies are operating, in order to increase transparency. By seeing the issue through the lens of institutional theory, it is unlikely for self-regulations to happen as the incentives are not great enough. For self-regulation to happen, the agency costs need to surpass the costs for increased responsible investments, as it would generate enough incentives for a change to happen.

<p>I analyze a large number of investment decisions based on theories that have been developed and formalized over the past 50 years. Previous work in this field unveils a number of biases which affect ones choices when the outcome is uncertain. In my thesis I find evidence of these already known biases and focus on finding rational explanations for their existence. I also introduce two unexplored biases; the homeboy bias and the menu bias.</p><p>The results clearly indicate that sophisticated investors are generally less subject to these biases. Since pension schemes in many nations are shifting towards defined contribution schemes, investment decisions and risk preferences will be of great consequence to investors’ personal economy and ability to consume, affecting the economy in general. It is therefore of great importance that policy makers do all that they can to increase investors sophistication and create a playing field which facilitates economically sound investing.</p>