2. Fundamental Signals and Analysts’ Forecasts To investigate whether fundamental analysis captures value of the firm proxied by analyst’s long-term earnings growth forecasts, fundamental signal is selected following Lev and Thiagarajan’s (1993) study. Lev and Thiagrajan (1993) (see also Abarbanell and Bushee (1997)) conduct fundamental information analysis to identify a set of financial variables claimed by analysts to be useful in evaluating firm’s performance and estimating future earnings. Based on their study, the following signals that may affect long-term growth forecasts are included. (All signals are calculated in the way that a positive value of each signal is a priori perceived as bad news).
2.1 Inventories (Relative to Sales) Disproportionate inventory increases relative to sales are mostly viewed by analysts as a negative signal, consistent with the production-smoothing motive. Lev and Thiagarajan (1993) show that the inventory signal is negatively correlated with stock returns. Therefore, the hypothesized argument is that disproportionate increases in inventory (to sales) signal should negatively affect the revisions in long-term growth forecast.
2.2 Accounts Receivable (Relative to Sales) Lev and Thiagarajan (1993) claim that disproportionate increases in accounts receivable (to sales) are mentioned by analysts as conveying a negative signal almost as often as inventory increases, i.e., they might suggest the earnings manipulation. Therefore, disproportionate increases in accounts receivable (to sales) signal is expected to associate negatively with the revisions in longterm growth forecast.
2.3 Gross Margin (Relative to Sales) Gross margin is defined as net sales minus costs of goods sold. Analysts view a disproportionate decrease in the gross margin (to sales) as a negative signal. Lev and Thiagarajan (1993) note that variation in the gross margin fundamental clearly affects the long-term performance of the firm and is thus informative with respect to earnings persistence and firm values. As such, the disproportionate decrease in the gross margin signal is hypothesized to associate negatively with the revisions in long-term growth forecasts.
2.4 Selling and Administrative (S&A) Expenses (Relative to Sales) A disproportionate increase in S&A expenses (to sales) reflects the inefficiency of management. Lev and Thiagarajan (1993) shows evidence consistent to this perception. Therefore, a negative relation between the disproportionate increase in S&A expenses and the revisions in long-term.