Do Managers Learn from Analysts about Investing? Evidence from Internal Capital Allocation
The Accounting Review · 2023 · Volume 98 · Issue 2
Abstract
Analysts are recognized for their expertise in predicting industry growth, yet little is known about whether CEOs learn from analysts’ insights to guide investment decisions. Focusing on conglomerates where CEOs are underinformed about segment growth opportunities, we find that CEOs learn industry insights from analysts to adjust internal capital allocation. The extent of learning increases when analysts have closer proximity to CEOs or expertise in segments where CEOs face larger internal knowledge gaps. CEOs likely learn from analysts through private communications, as the insights learned are not yet publicly available, difficult to replace with other sources, and persistently impactful for firms. CEOs also exploit conference calls as another way to learn from analysts. As a result, learning analysts’ insights enhances firm value. We employ brokerage mergers/closures as a quasi-experiment to address endogeneity concerns. Overall, our study provides novel evidence on a learning channel through which analysts add value to firms. JEL Classifications:D80; D83; G10; G31.
Keywords
learning, industry insights, uncertainty, private information set, internal knowledge gap, investment efficiency
Enable JavaScript for citation tools and additional paper interactions.