The liquidity, performance and investor preference of socially responsible investments

PurposeThe purpose of the paper is to analyze socially responsible investment (SRI) asset performance compared to traditional assets using the MSCI KLD 400 Index. The authors examine the required return that investors expect to maintain their holdings in SRI stock and whether SRI stocks can be used for diversification during financial crises.Design/methodology/approachThe authors examine SRI stocks' liquidity from the MSCI KLD 400 index, encompassing all environmental, social and governance (ESG) factor investments over 25 years, from 1990 until 2019. The authors test whether sorting portfolios based on their excess return, liquidity and volatility can explain the difference in SRI and non-SRI stocks' returns and then examine the global financial crisis' (GFC) impact on excess returns for SRI and non-SRI assets.FindingsThe authors find a significant difference in liquidity and volatility between SRI and non-SRI stocks and that SRI stocks perform better during financial crises. The results suggest a possible general investor preference to invest in non-SRI stocks despite our findings that SRI stocks tend to withstand financial risk better than non-SRI stocks. The authors find that long-term investors may be willing to forego short-term gains to reduce their overall risk exposure during crises.Originality/valueSRI is gaining international popularity as an alternative investment that includes ratings based on ESG factors. Previous studies provide mixed results of whether SRI stocks outperform conventional stocks. In addition, there is limited research examining the liquidity and volatility of SRI assets. The authors compare the differences between SRI and non-SRI stocks in terms of excess return, volatility and liquidity and compare the liquidity of SRI and non-SRI stocks during the financial crisis.

Investment motives and preferences – An empirical inquiry during COVID-19

Following the COVID-19 breakout, investment in shares, mutual funds, and life insurance are witnessing a growing trend in India. Hence, examining the determinants of investor preferences is necessary to maintain a positive trend. This study analyzes the impact of investor motives and awareness on investor preferences using the data collected from 753 Indian investors in 2020. Factor analysis grouped the investment motives into six categories, namely Nature of investments, Future financial needs, Investor personal characteristics, Safety and stability of investments, Investor behavioral aspects, and Investor’s options. The regression model used to find the impact of the investment motives and the awareness on the investor preferences explains 52.3% of changes in investor preference. Investment factors like Nature of investments, Investor personal characteristics, Investor behavior, Investor options, Awareness of mutual funds, and shares have a significant impact on investor preferences. Further, the awareness level of mutual funds and the stock market are the major variables contributing to Investors’ preference rather than identified investment factors. Investors’ personal characteristics like knowledge, confidence, ability, responsibility, and belief negatively influence investor preferences. This study adds to the existing literature by analyzing investment motives and preferences during the pandemic.

Practitioner Summary: The Value of Assurance and Ethics in Difficult Times: Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosures and Investor Decisions

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) assurance rates continue to lag behind corporate reporting of CSR activity (Blasco and King 2017), suggesting managers question whether the benefits of purchasing assurance outweigh the costs. This article summarizes a recent study by Stuart, Bedard, and Clark (2020) investigating the value of CSR assurance when a company experiences a negative event by examining how prior disclosure of management’s CSR intentions, and the decision to purchase independent assurance, influence investors’ judgments. Findings suggest investors react more favorably to management’s intention to engage in activities that increase expected future financial returns when economic times are good. In contrast, in difficult times investor preference shifts to management’s intent for activities done solely for social good as a signal of ethical culture. However, this preference disappears when disclosures are assured. Findings suggest the decision to purchase CSR assurance plays an important role in signaling management’s ethical culture.

Mispricing and Investor Preference with Six Indicators of Blue-Chip Stocks’ Future Returns

This research involves three variables: future returns, mispricing, and investor preference. The issue is that future returns in the markets are difficult to understand, especially for beginner, amateur investors. They are advised to focus on blue-chip stocks due to their safety in the market. The objective of this research is to find a connection from mispricing and investor preference to the future anomalies as indicators of mispricing and ten measurements as indicators of investor preference leading to three anomalies of mispricing and three measurements of investor preference. The three anomalies are asset growth, net operating assets, and total returns of blue-chip stocks. The methods used are descriptive statistics and associative statistics. In this research, we adopted eleven liabilities to total assets, while the three investor preferences are beta synchronous trading, book equity to market equity, and size. The descriptive statistics show that the asset growth, net operating asset, and size of eight companies are above the mean and the others are below it. Blue-chip stocks have excellent growth in assets, high operating assets, and high market capitalization. In addition, they have low liabilities (solvable), book value to market value (high return), and beta (low market sensitivity). The associative statistics used the multiple-regression cross-section Newey–West method and conducted the examination three times; that is, it tested mispricing with three indicators, investor preference with three indicators, and additional indicators between mispricing and investor preference. The result is not significant for the investor preference and mispricing index for the future returns of blue-chip stocks. The policy implication is that there is no divergence between fundamental and price security in the types of blue-chip stocks for future returns. Moreover, the institutional or individual investor does not impact future return’s stocks.

Investor Preference for Director Characteristics: Portfolio Choice with Gender Bias

ABSTRACT This study examines whether investor-level preferences for director characteristics influence portfolio choices, using data on the U.S. holdings of non-U.S. funds. Consistent with bias-based preferences influencing portfolio allocations, funds from countries with greater gender inequality invest less and hold smaller stakes in firms with more female directors. Since variation in funds' home country gender biases are plausibly unrelated to the selection and performance of female directors in U.S. firms, the empirical strategy mitigates endogeneity concerns arising from estimates based on associations between market performance and gender demographics. The study contributes by linking investments to measured gender biases and by providing evidence, through additional analysis, of potential channels through which gender bias may affect portfolio choice. JEL Classifications: G11; J16; M10.

Skewness Preference and Asset Pricing: Evidence from the Japanese Stock Market

Previous studies have shown that investor preference for positive skewness creates a potential premium on negatively skewed assets. In this paper, we attempt to explore the connection between investors’ skewness preferences and corresponding demand for a risk premium on asset returns. Using data from the Japanese stock market, we empirically study the significance of risk aversion with skewness preference that potentially delivers a premium. Compared to studies on other stock markets, our finding suggests that Japanese investors exhibit preference for positively skewed assets, but do not display dislike for ones that are negatively skewed. This implies that investors from different countries having dissimilar attitudes toward risk may possess different preferences toward positive skewness, which would result in a different magnitude of expected risk premium on negatively skewed assets.

Market Evidence on Investor Preference for Fewer Directorships

We examine investors’ preference for directors serving on fewer versus more boards (“busy directors”) by measuring market reaction to busy directors’ resignations at the companies that still keep these directors on the board. We find a positive reaction implying a preference for fewer directorships. The reaction is more positive when the need for the director’s services is greater, when the resignation frees up more of the director’s time, and when the director is of higher quality. Furthermore, we find that following their resignation, directors increase their board responsibilities/leadership at firms that still retain them and seek no board appointments elsewhere.

Corporate diversification

Purpose The purpose of this study is to compare two theories that relate the proportion of diversified firms in the economy and the implied discount for diversified firms: the first is a real-options model predicting a positive relationship between the discount and management’s choice to operate a diversified firm; the second is based on catering theory, in which a negative relationship is predicted, as management is attentive to investor preference concerning diversified firms. Design/methodology/approach This study proposes a new aggregate measure of the diversification discount. The authors’ measure allows for decomposition of the discount into firm-level mispricing, industry-level mispricing and long-run fundamental value components. Findings Results support a catering theory of diversification. The discount appears to be the result of firm-level mispricing. Thus, providing an explanation for why, in light of the observed discount, a large number of diversified firms persist. Originality/value To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to provide evidence that firm-level mispricing may drive the observed diversification discount.

The Optimal Allocation for Capital Preservation: an Evidence Australian Portfolio

<p>This study analyzes optimal asset mix for Australian portfolios with the main investment objective for capital preservation. An alternative measure of risk of annual maximum drawdown has been used to reflect investor preference for capital preservation as opposed to conventional risk measure of standard deviation and variance. The contribution of the study is two folds. First, this study has put different perspective to look at portfolio risk in the view of capital preservation. Second, the optimal weight for asset class mix that minimizes annual maximum drawdown has been analyzed for the case of Australian market. The results suggest that for capital preservation, investors should expect lower returns and need to put a greater allocation on less risky assets such as cash or bond. To this end, cash and bond have provided stable long term annual returns along with contained level of annual maximum drawdowns. In contrast, when investors demand higher expected return, they should increase asset allocation into stocks (equities) market at the expense of higher maximum drawdowns.</p><p><strong>Bahasa Indonesia Abstrak</strong>: <em>Studi ini menganalisis bauran aset optimal untuk portofolio Australia dengan tujuan investasi utama untuk pelestarian modal. Ukuran alternatif risiko penarikan maksimum tahunan telah digunakan untuk mencerminkan preferensi investor untuk pelestarian modal dibandingkan dengan ukuran risiko konvensional standar deviasi dan varians. Kontribusi dari penelitian ini adalah dua lipatan. Pertama, penelitian ini telah menempatkan perspektif yang berbeda untuk melihat risiko portofolio dalam pandangan pelestarian modal. Kedua, bobot optimal untuk campuran kelas aset yang meminimalkan penarikan maksimum tahunan telah dianalisis untuk kasus pasar Australia. Hasilnya menunjukkan bahwa untuk pelestarian modal, investor harus mengharapkan pengembalian yang lebih rendah dan perlu menempatkan alokasi yang lebih besar pada aset yang kurang berisiko seperti uang tunai atau obligasi. Untuk tujuan ini, uang tunai dan obligasi telah memberikan pengembalian tahunan jangka panjang yang stabil bersama dengan tingkat penarikan maksimum tahunan. Sebaliknya, ketika investor meminta pengembalian yang diharapkan lebih tinggi, mereka harus meningkatkan alokasi aset ke pasar saham (ekuitas) dengan mengorbankan penarikan maksimum yang lebih tinggi</em></p>