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What Do Short Sellers Know?

Author

Listed:
  • Ekkehart Boehmer
  • Charles M Jones
  • Juan (Julie) Wu
  • Xiaoyan Zhang
Abstract
Using NYSE short-sale order data, we investigate whether short sellers’ informational advantage is related to firm earnings and analyst-related events. With a novel decomposition method, we find that while these fundamental event days constitute only 12% of sample days, they account for over 24% of the overall underperformance of heavily shorted stocks. Importantly, short sellers use both public news and private information to anticipate news regarding earnings and analysts. Shorting’s predictive ability remains significant after controlling for information in analyst actions and displays no reversal patterns, indicating that short sellers know more than analysts, and the nature of their information is long term.

Suggested Citation

  • Ekkehart Boehmer & Charles M Jones & Juan (Julie) Wu & Xiaoyan Zhang, 2020. "What Do Short Sellers Know?," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 24(6), pages 1203-1235.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:revfin:v:24:y:2020:i:6:p:1203-1235.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/rof/rfaa008
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Jin, Han & Mazouz, Khelifa & Wu, Yuliang & Xu, Bin, 2023. "Can star analysts make superior coverage decisions in poor information environment?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    2. Xufeng Liu & Die Wan, 2022. "Does short‐selling affect mutual fund shareholdings? Evidence from China," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(S1), pages 1887-1923, April.
    3. Brockman, Paul & Luo, Juan & Xu, Limin, 2020. "The impact of short-selling pressure on corporate employee relations," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    4. Chen, Shenglan & Chou, Robin K. & Liu, Xiaoling & Wu, Yuhui, 2020. "Deregulation of short-selling constraints and cost of bank loans: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    5. Greppmair, Stefan & Jank, Stephan & Saffi, Pedro A. C. & Sturgess, Jason, 2024. "Securities lending and information acquisition," Discussion Papers 08/2024, Deutsche Bundesbank.
    6. Lei Chen & Zhi Jin & Xue Yang, 2023. "Short selling and the independence of business‐related analysts: Evidence from an emerging market," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(3), pages 3297-3323, September.
    7. In-Mu Haw & Wenming Wang & Wenlan Zhang & Xu Zhang, 2022. "Capturing the straw in the wind: do short sellers trade on customer information?," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 58(4), pages 1363-1394, May.
    8. Hanauer, Matthias X. & Lesnevski, Pavel & Smajlbegovic, Esad, 2023. "Surprise in short interest," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    9. Greppmair, Stefan & Jank, Stephan & Smajlbegovic, Esad, 2023. "On the importance of fiscal space: Evidence from short sellers during the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    10. Christophe, Stephen E. & Hsieh, Jim & Lee, Hun, 2024. "Reputation and recency: How do aggressive short sellers assess ESG-Related Information?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    11. Di Maggio, Marco & Franzoni, Francesco & Massa, Massimo & Tubaldi, Roberto, 2024. "Strategic trading as a response to short sellers," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    12. Hsieh, Jim & Ng, Lilian & Wang, Qinghai, 2023. "How informative are insider trades and analyst recommendations?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    13. Fohlin, Caroline & Lu, Zhikun & Zhou, Nan, 2022. "Short sale bans may improve market quality during crises: New evidence from the 2020 Covid," SAFE Working Paper Series 365, Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE.
    14. Stivers, Chris & Sun, Licheng & Saha, Sounak, 2024. "Abnormal stock returns and shorting around securities class action lawsuits: The role of pre-filing news releases," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    15. David Weinbaum & Andrew Fodor & Dmitriy Muravyev & Martijn Cremers, 2023. "Option Trading Activity, News Releases, and Stock Return Predictability," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(8), pages 4810-4827, August.
    16. Arseny Gorbenko & Marcin Kacperczyk, 2023. "Short Interest and Aggregate Stock Returns: International Evidence," The Review of Asset Pricing Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 13(4), pages 691-733.
    17. Onur Bayar & Yini Liu & Juan Mao, 2023. "Shareholder litigation and short selling ahead of private equity placements," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 58(4), pages 833-858, November.
    18. Huang, Lixin & Li, Wei & Wang, Hong & Wu, Liansheng, 2022. "Stock dividend and analyst optimistic bias in earnings forecast," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 643-659.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Short selling; Firm fundamentals news; Private information; Return decomposition; Analysts;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading
    • G23 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Non-bank Financial Institutions; Financial Instruments; Institutional Investors

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