Week-6 Stock Market, Rational Expectations and Financial Structure

Money and Banking Econ 311Tuesdays 7 - 9:45

Instructor: Thomas L. Thomas

o Common Stock is the principal way that corporations raise equity capital

o Stockholders those who own stock – own an interest in the corporation proportional to the shares they own.

o The most important rights are the right to vote and to be a residual claimant of al the funds flowing into the firm (cash flows). (What do we mean by residual)

o Dividends are payments made periodically (usually quarterly to the stockholders (shareholders).

Stock

o A basic principal of finance is that the value of any investment is found by computing the present value of all cash flows that the investment will generate over its life. (How do we measure a corporation’s life from an investor’s point of view?)

o Similar to the net present value formula in chapter 4 the discounted cash flows on equity consists of one dividend payments and the final sales price.

=

Where P0 = the current price of the stock at the presentDiv1

= dividend paid at the end of year 1 = the required return on an equity investment

P1 = the price of the stock at the end of the period or the predicted sales price of the stock

Example assume the current price for a share of stock is $50. Also assume that the required return is 12% the dividend is $0.16 and the forecasted sales price is $60.00

= = $0.14 + $53.57 = $53.71

o Would you buy the stock?

One Period Valuation

The Generalized Dividend Valuation Model

1 20 1 2

0

01

The value of stock today is the present value of all future cash flows

...(1 ) (1 ) (1 ) (1 )

If is far in the future, it will not affect

(1 )

The price of the

n nn n

e e e e

n

tt

t e

D PD DP

k k k k

P P

DP

k

stock is determined only by the present value of

the future dividend stream

The Gordon Growth Model

The Required Return (k)

Depends on

the risk-free rate (rf), the return on the market (rm), and the stock's beta.

Relationship Between Risk and Required Return

2.01.51.00.5

20

15

10

5

k=3.5% +(10% - 3.5%)ß

B

A

Required Return (%)

Risk ß

1.80.8

8.7

15.2

Substitution of Cash Flow for Earnings and Dividends

Emphasis on firm’s ability to generate cash

May be applied when firm does not pay a dividend

How the Market Sets Prices

The price is set by the buyer willing to pay the highest price

The market price will be set by the buyer who can take best advantage of the asset

Superior information about an asset can increase its value by reducing its perceived risk

Information is important for individuals to value each asset.

When new information is released about a firm, expectations and prices change.

Market participants constantly receive information and revise their expectations, so stock prices change frequently

Application: The Global Financial Crisis and the Stock Market

Financial crisis that started in August 2007 led to one of the worst bear markets in 50 years.

Downward revision of growth prospects: ↓g. Increased uncertainty: ↑ke

Gordon model predicts a drop in stock prices. Explain why the formula suggests a drop in prices?

The Theory of Rational Expectations

Adaptive expectations: Expectations are formed from past experience only. Changes in expectations will occur slowly over time as data changes. However, people use more than just past data to form their expectations

and sometimes change their expectations quickly.

Expectations will be identical to optimal forecasts using all available information

Even though a rational expectation equals the optimal forecast using all available information, a prediction based on it may not always be perfectly accurate It takes too much effort to make the expectation the best guess possible

Best guess will not be accurate because predictor is unaware of some relevant information

This is due to What???????

Formal Statement of the Theory

expectation of the variable that is being forecast

= optimal forecast using all available information

e of

e

of

X X

X

X

Rationale Behind the Theory

The incentives for equating expectations with optimal forecasts are especially strong in financial markets. In these markets, people with better forecasts of the future get rich.

The application of the theory of rational expectations to financial markets (where it is called the efficient market hypothesis or the theory of efficient capital markets) is thus particularly useful

Implications of the Theory

If there is a change in the way a variable moves, the way in which expectations of the variable are formed will change as well Changes in the conduct of monetary policy (e.g. target the

federal funds rate)

The forecast errors of expectations will, on average, be zero and cannot be predicted ahead of time.

The Efficient Market Hypothesis: Rational Expectations in Financial Markets

1

Recall

The rate of return from holding a security equals the sum of the capital

gain on the security, plus any cash payments divided by the

initial purchase price of the security.

= the r

t t

t

P P CR

P

R

1

ate of return on the security

= price of the security at time + 1, the end of the holding period

= price of the security at time , the beginning of the holding period

= cash payment (coupon

t

t

P t

P t

C

or dividend) made during the holding period

The Holding Period Return (HPR)

The percentage earned on an investment during a period of time

HPR = P1 + D - P0

P0

The Efficient Market Hypothesis: Rational Expectations in Financial Markets (cont’d)

At the beginning of the period, we know Pt and C.

Pt+1 is unknown and we must form an expectation of it.

The expected return then is

Expectations of future prices are equal to optimal forecasts using all currently available information so

Supply and Demand analysis states Re will equal the equilibrium return R*, so Rof = R*

t

te

te

P

CPPR

1

ofeoft

et RRPP 11

How Valuable are Published Reports by Investment Advisors?

Information in newspapers and in the published reports of investment advisers is readily available to many market participants and is already reflected in market prices

So acting on this information will not yield abnormally high returns, on average

The empirical evidence for the most part confirms that recommendations from investment advisers cannot help us outperform the general market

Efficient Market Prescription for the Investor

Recommendations from investment advisors cannot help us outperform the market

A hot tip is probably information already contained in the price of the stock

Stock prices respond to announcements only when the information is new and unexpected

A “buy and hold” strategy is the most sensible strategy for the small investor

Why the Efficient Market Hypothesis Does Not Imply that Financial Markets are Efficient

Some financial economists believe all prices are always correct and reflect market fundamentals (items that have a direct impact on future income streams of the securities) and so financial markets are efficient

However, prices in markets like the stock market are unpredictable- This casts serious doubt on the stronger view that financial markets are efficient

The Efficient Market Hypothesis

Hard to beat the market on a risk-adjusted basis consistently

Earning a higher return is not necessarily outperforming the market.

Considering risk is also important.

Assumptions Concerning Efficient Markets

Large number of competing participants

Information is readily available.

Transaction costs are small.

Random Walk

Another term for efficient markets

Does not imply security prices are randomly determined.

Implies day-to-day price changes are random

Random Walk

Successive prices changes are independent. Today's price does not forecast tomorrow's price. Current price embodies all known information.

Random Walk

New information must be random

IF NOT

An opportunity to earn an excess return would exist

Undervaluation and Overvaluation

Undervaluation drives prices up returns decline

Overvaluation drives prices down returns increase

Rationale Behind the Hypothesis

Undervaluation and Overvaluation

Random Walk

Prices change quickly to new information.

By the time most investors know the information, the price change has already occurred.

Degree of Market Efficiency

The forms of the efficient market hypothesis: the weak form the semi-strong form the strong form

The Weak Form

Studying past price and volume data will not lead to superior investment results.

While the weak form suggests that using price data will not produce superior results, using financial analysis may produce superior returns.

The Semi-Strong Form

Studying economic and accounting data will not lead to superior investment returns.

Studying inside information may lead to superior returns.

The Strong Form

Using inside information will not lead to superior investment returns.

Anomalies

Empirical results generally support: the weak form, and the semi-strong form.

Possible exceptions to the efficient market hypothesis, called anomalies, appear to exist.

Anomalies and Returns

Empirical evidence of the existence of an anomaly does not mean the individual can take advantage of the anomaly.

The anomaly can still exist and the market be effectively efficient from the individual investor's perspective.

Implications of Efficient Markets

Security prices embody known information. The playing field is level. Specifying financial goals may be more important than

seeking undervalued stocks.

Implications of Efficient Markets

Other markets may not be efficient.

Importance of reducing transactions costs: the argument for a buy-and-hold strategy

Implications of Efficient Markets

Security prices embody known information. The playing field is level. Specifying financial goals may be more important than

seeking undervalued stocks.

Implications of Efficient Markets

Other markets may not be efficient.

Importance of reducing transactions costs: the argument for a buy-and-hold strategy

Behavioral Finance

The lack of short selling (causing over-priced stocks) may be explained by loss aversion

The large trading volume may be explained by investor overconfidence

Stock market bubbles may be explained by overconfidence and social contagion