2. Value Relevance of Earnings and Cash Flows
Table 2 presents the regression results of stock returns on earnings and change in earnings. Earnings better explains stock returns during the pre-crisis (adjusted R2 = 11.72%) than the postcrisis periods (adjusted R2 = 0.82%). Moreover, the magnitude of earnings coefficient in the pre-crisis period is statistically significant (α2 = 1.33) and higher than that in the post-crisis
period. However, this study finds that earnings are unable to explain stock returns during the financial crisis as can be seen by the negative explanatory power and insignificant coefficient of earinings. Therefore, the ability of earnings to explain stock returns dramatically declines during the financial crisis, but slightly improves