Firm and industry informational content from REIT FFO announcements

Abstract

ABSTRACT Conveyance of information associated with REIT FFO announcements is investigated by decomposing stock returns into three components: firm-specific, industry-level and market-wide. The relative importance of firm-specific and industry information is evaluated around and following FFO announcements. The initial market reaction to REIT FFO announcements is primarily driven by the firm-specific return component. The underreaction to firm-specific information appears in drift after the announcement, especially for negative FFO surprises. FFO surprises explain the firm-specific return component, but not the industry-level return component which further suggests that FFO announcements only convey firm-specific information.