One stream of research investigates the valuation of firms that report long earnings
strings. Barth et al. (1999) find that firms with patterns of earnings increases tend to have larger
price-earnings multiples, and that a positive correlation exists between the magnitude of earnings
multiples and the length of earnings strings. Myers et al. (2007) report that firms with long
consecutive increases in quarterly earnings enjoy larger abnormal returns in the first five years of
earnings strings, compared to firms with similar strings of increases in annual earnings. On the
other hand, however, firms also appear to be penalized for breaking their earnings strings. Both
Barth et al. (1999) and DeAngelo et al. (1996) show that firms with strings of annual earnings
increases experience significant stock price declines upon breaking earnings strings. Myers et al.
(2007) document similar evidence in the context of quarterly earnings strings.