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  • May 2019
  • Article
  • Accounting Review

Who Consumes Firm Disclosures? Evidence from Earnings Conference Calls

By: Anne Heinrichs, Jihwon Park and Eugene F. Soltes
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Abstract

Using a set of proprietary records, we examine who consumes quarterly earnings conference calls and under which circumstances the calls are consumed. While there is significant interest in calls by institutional investors and sell-side analysts, we find that investors who do not hold a position in the firm are leading consumers. We show that buy-side non-holders who consume calls are more likely to hold positions in competitors and to purchase the stock in the future. In addition, many investors who hold large positions only consume calls periodically. We also document a benefit of consuming calls by finding that the consumption of calls is associated with more informed trading decisions. Overall, our investigation illuminates the actual consumption of conference calls by different consumers and the potential benefits of consuming additional firm disclosures.

Keywords

Disclosure; Conference Calls; Firm News; Corporate Disclosure; Business Earnings; Situation Or Environment

Citation

Heinrichs, Anne, Jihwon Park, and Eugene F. Soltes. "Who Consumes Firm Disclosures? Evidence from Earnings Conference Calls." Accounting Review 94, no. 3 (May 2019): 205–231.
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About The Author

Eugene F. Soltes

Accounting and Management
→More Publications

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More from the Authors
  • An Introduction to Money Laundering: 'The Hunter' By: Eugene Soltes, Guilhem Ros and Grace Liu
  • Paper Versus Practice: A Field Investigation of Integrity Hotlines By: Eugene Soltes
  • Background on Insider Trading Liability By: Trevor Fetter, Eugene F. Soltes and Grant Wahlquist
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