Dissemination of Stock Recommendations and Small Investors: Who Benefits?

Abstract

The objective of this study is to examine whether published investment advice generates higher returns for investors. We investigate the impact of security recommendations in the financial press on common stock prices in Istanbul Stock Exchange. Recommendations of Investor Ali column of the weekly-published popular economics journal Moneymatik constitutes our sample. The column is designed to inform individual investors about company prospects and use them as the basis for its recommendations. The results show that the published investment advice in this column does not help small investors earn excess returns. On the contrary, it provides a valuable deal to its ‘preferred investors’, if any, in selecting the stocks. If one could front-run the column’s recommendations by five days he/she could earn more than 5% per week in excess of the index return. Compounded annually the excess return of a preferred investor could earn would be more than an amazing 1500% per annum.