Investor Attention and Growth Anomalies in NASDAQ Stocks-Evidence from Google Trend Volume

Ya Li; Raymond Chan; John Tsang

doi:doi:10.11648/j.jfa.20200805.15

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Investor Attention and Growth Anomalies in NASDAQ Stocks-Evidence from Google Trend Volume

Ya Li, Raymond Chan, John Tsang

Published in Journal of Finance and Accounting (Volume 8, Issue 5)

Received: 24 September 2020 Accepted: 15 October 2020 Published: 26 October 2020

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Abstract

We study the effects of investor attention on the capital investment anomaly on NASDAQ stocks. Based on total asset growth, researchers find firms that substantially increase capital investments subsequently achieve negative benchmark-adjusted returns. On one hand, some scholars propose that investors incorrectly underreact to the empire building behavior of managers who aggressively increase investment expenditure. On the other hand, some scholars argue that investors appear to overreact to past firm growth rates. We aim to determine whether the growth anomaly is due to underreaction or overreaction in this research. We apply Google Search Volume Index as a new direct measure of investor attention to provide empirical evidence for under-reaction and over-reaction explanations of the total asset growth anomaly on NASDAQ stocks. We adopt double sorting and Fama-MacBeth regression and find the stock prices rise up when investors search actively of the underlying stock tickers. The anomaly is stronger when investors are extremely overreacting and underreacting. When investors are rational or calm down, this total asset growth effect disappears. Our empirical design disentangles the dilemma that whether the strand of growth anomalies is due to risk or mispricing. Within proponents of mispricing, our research innovatively tease out of the opposing explanations of under-reaction and over-reaction as the relevant driver of the growth anomalies.

Published in	Journal of Finance and Accounting (Volume 8, Issue 5)
DOI	10.11648/j.jfa.20200805.15
Page(s)	238-245
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Attention, Google Search, Total Asset Growth

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APA Style

Ya Li, Raymond Chan, John Tsang. (2020). Investor Attention and Growth Anomalies in NASDAQ Stocks-Evidence from Google Trend Volume. Journal of Finance and Accounting, 8(5), 238-245. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jfa.20200805.15

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ACS Style

Ya Li; Raymond Chan; John Tsang. Investor Attention and Growth Anomalies in NASDAQ Stocks-Evidence from Google Trend Volume. J. Finance Account. 2020, 8(5), 238-245. doi: 10.11648/j.jfa.20200805.15

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AMA Style

Ya Li, Raymond Chan, John Tsang. Investor Attention and Growth Anomalies in NASDAQ Stocks-Evidence from Google Trend Volume. J Finance Account. 2020;8(5):238-245. doi: 10.11648/j.jfa.20200805.15

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@article{10.11648/j.jfa.20200805.15,
  author = {Ya Li and Raymond Chan and John Tsang},
  title = {Investor Attention and Growth Anomalies in NASDAQ Stocks-Evidence from Google Trend Volume},
  journal = {Journal of Finance and Accounting},
  volume = {8},
  number = {5},
  pages = {238-245},
  doi = {10.11648/j.jfa.20200805.15},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jfa.20200805.15},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.jfa.20200805.15},
  abstract = {We study the effects of investor attention on the capital investment anomaly on NASDAQ stocks. Based on total asset growth, researchers find firms that substantially increase capital investments subsequently achieve negative benchmark-adjusted returns. On one hand, some scholars propose that investors incorrectly underreact to the empire building behavior of managers who aggressively increase investment expenditure. On the other hand, some scholars argue that investors appear to overreact to past firm growth rates. We aim to determine whether the growth anomaly is due to underreaction or overreaction in this research. We apply Google Search Volume Index as a new direct measure of investor attention to provide empirical evidence for under-reaction and over-reaction explanations of the total asset growth anomaly on NASDAQ stocks. We adopt double sorting and Fama-MacBeth regression and find the stock prices rise up when investors search actively of the underlying stock tickers. The anomaly is stronger when investors are extremely overreacting and underreacting. When investors are rational or calm down, this total asset growth effect disappears. Our empirical design disentangles the dilemma that whether the strand of growth anomalies is due to risk or mispricing. Within proponents of mispricing, our research innovatively tease out of the opposing explanations of under-reaction and over-reaction as the relevant driver of the growth anomalies.},
 year = {2020}
}

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TY - JOUR
T1 - Investor Attention and Growth Anomalies in NASDAQ Stocks-Evidence from Google Trend Volume
AU - Ya Li
AU - Raymond Chan
AU - John Tsang
Y1 - 2020/10/26
PY - 2020
N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jfa.20200805.15
DO - 10.11648/j.jfa.20200805.15
T2 - Journal of Finance and Accounting
JF - Journal of Finance and Accounting
JO - Journal of Finance and Accounting
SP - 238
EP - 245
PB - Science Publishing Group
SN - 2330-7323
UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jfa.20200805.15
AB - We study the effects of investor attention on the capital investment anomaly on NASDAQ stocks. Based on total asset growth, researchers find firms that substantially increase capital investments subsequently achieve negative benchmark-adjusted returns. On one hand, some scholars propose that investors incorrectly underreact to the empire building behavior of managers who aggressively increase investment expenditure. On the other hand, some scholars argue that investors appear to overreact to past firm growth rates. We aim to determine whether the growth anomaly is due to underreaction or overreaction in this research. We apply Google Search Volume Index as a new direct measure of investor attention to provide empirical evidence for under-reaction and over-reaction explanations of the total asset growth anomaly on NASDAQ stocks. We adopt double sorting and Fama-MacBeth regression and find the stock prices rise up when investors search actively of the underlying stock tickers. The anomaly is stronger when investors are extremely overreacting and underreacting. When investors are rational or calm down, this total asset growth effect disappears. Our empirical design disentangles the dilemma that whether the strand of growth anomalies is due to risk or mispricing. Within proponents of mispricing, our research innovatively tease out of the opposing explanations of under-reaction and over-reaction as the relevant driver of the growth anomalies.
VL - 8
IS - 5
ER -

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Author Information

Ya Li

LSK School of Business and Administration, The Open University of Hong Kong, Ho Man Tin, Hong Kong
Raymond Chan

LSK School of Business and Administration, The Open University of Hong Kong, Ho Man Tin, Hong Kong
John Tsang

LSK School of Business and Administration, The Open University of Hong Kong, Ho Man Tin, Hong Kong

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Plain Text BibTeX RIS

APA Style

Ya Li, Raymond Chan, John Tsang. (2020). Investor Attention and Growth Anomalies in NASDAQ Stocks-Evidence from Google Trend Volume. Journal of Finance and Accounting, 8(5), 238-245. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jfa.20200805.15

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ACS Style

Ya Li; Raymond Chan; John Tsang. Investor Attention and Growth Anomalies in NASDAQ Stocks-Evidence from Google Trend Volume. J. Finance Account. 2020, 8(5), 238-245. doi: 10.11648/j.jfa.20200805.15

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AMA Style

Ya Li, Raymond Chan, John Tsang. Investor Attention and Growth Anomalies in NASDAQ Stocks-Evidence from Google Trend Volume. J Finance Account. 2020;8(5):238-245. doi: 10.11648/j.jfa.20200805.15

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@article{10.11648/j.jfa.20200805.15,
  author = {Ya Li and Raymond Chan and John Tsang},
  title = {Investor Attention and Growth Anomalies in NASDAQ Stocks-Evidence from Google Trend Volume},
  journal = {Journal of Finance and Accounting},
  volume = {8},
  number = {5},
  pages = {238-245},
  doi = {10.11648/j.jfa.20200805.15},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jfa.20200805.15},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.jfa.20200805.15},
  abstract = {We study the effects of investor attention on the capital investment anomaly on NASDAQ stocks. Based on total asset growth, researchers find firms that substantially increase capital investments subsequently achieve negative benchmark-adjusted returns. On one hand, some scholars propose that investors incorrectly underreact to the empire building behavior of managers who aggressively increase investment expenditure. On the other hand, some scholars argue that investors appear to overreact to past firm growth rates. We aim to determine whether the growth anomaly is due to underreaction or overreaction in this research. We apply Google Search Volume Index as a new direct measure of investor attention to provide empirical evidence for under-reaction and over-reaction explanations of the total asset growth anomaly on NASDAQ stocks. We adopt double sorting and Fama-MacBeth regression and find the stock prices rise up when investors search actively of the underlying stock tickers. The anomaly is stronger when investors are extremely overreacting and underreacting. When investors are rational or calm down, this total asset growth effect disappears. Our empirical design disentangles the dilemma that whether the strand of growth anomalies is due to risk or mispricing. Within proponents of mispricing, our research innovatively tease out of the opposing explanations of under-reaction and over-reaction as the relevant driver of the growth anomalies.},
 year = {2020}
}

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