This paper investigates the impact of negative earnings persistence on the value relevance of earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) and book values for 27 non-financial firms listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE). Negative earnings are perceived to be persistent where firms reported losses in at least 25% of the time over the eight-year study period. Two-step System GMM was used, with the average debt-equity ratio and net asset value per share being additional regression instruments. The regressions were primarily done on the ZSE full sample, and then on a profit-reporting firms' sample. The loss-reporting firms' sample was too small for meaningful regressions. It was found that when loss-firms were removed from the sample, value relevance of EBIT and book value declined. This means that investors are very meticulous with firms they perceive to be persistent loss-makers but tend to be complacent with profit-firms.
The impact of financial risks on share prices concerns investors, company executives and accounting standards developers. Investors need this information in delineating their equity valuation models while company executives need the information to make appropriate capital structure decisions. Accounting standards developers use this information in their policy to make accounting standards contemporary. The authors examine the link between relative and absolute financial risks and share prices using a dynamic panel of non-financial listed companies on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange after dollarization. Equity investors incurred losses before dollarization, which prompted this investigation into the sphere of financial risks in order to explain share price movements so that investors can use it to minimize losses in the future. Absolute financial risk is measured by the total debt, while debt/equity ratio measures relative financial risk. Market capitalization as a proxy for equity and debt is measured by total liabilities. An average debt/equity ratio greater or equal to one qualifies a firm into the high-risk category while ratios below one imply low-risk firms. Results from two-step System Generalised Method of Moments (GMM) show negative and significant connection between relative risk and share prices across risk categories. The impact of absolute risk on share prices differs by risk category. Firm managers are advised to keep total liabilities below market capitalization in order to enjoy the benefits of low-risk categorization. Debt ratio is a reasonable indicator of value and investors can use it in equity valuation. Mandatory reporting of debt ratios should be considered by accounting standards developers.
Empirical knowledge regarding which financial statement variables are linked to firm value is critical for profitable equity investment.
Research purpose:The study examines the impact of earnings before interest and taxes from continuing operations (EBITCOs) and tangible book value (TBV) on firm value variants (enterprise value and market capitalisation) in South Africa.Motivation for the study: The need to determine the impact of book value and operating income on firm value post-global financial crisis motivated this study. Furthermore, conflicting empirical results motivated this investigation to determine if value relevance depends on the measure of firm value used by employing two variants of firm value.Research approach/design and method: A dynamic panel of 50 firms was used, employing an autoregressive distributed lag model in two-step system generalised method of moments (GMM).Main findings: Results showed that EBITCO is value relevant regardless of the firm value variant used. Tangible book value lacks value relevance irrespective of the firm value measure used.Practical/managerial implications: During a takeover bid, investors should use EBITCO in valuing target firms and disregard TBV. New owners in an acquisition are guaranteed value for their money because of the link between EBITCO and enterprise value. Accounting standards setters should maintain the requirement that mandates companies to produce comprehensive financial statements. Company executives should implement strategies that boost EBITCO as a way of maximising shareholder value.Contribution/value-add: Conservative measures of variables were adopted, something rarely done by scholars. Thus, the study contributes to the scant body of knowledge on value relevance that utilises conservative financial statement variable measures.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.