Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(344)
- Faculty Publications (47)
- January 2014 (Revised January 2014)
- Case
Showdown at Cracker Barrel
By: Suraj Srinivasan and Tim Gray
In the fall of 2011, activist investor, Sardar Biglari, has acquired nearly 10% ownership in the Cracker Barrel restaurant chain. He believes that the board and senior management have failed and the company has underperformed relative to its peers. When he is denied a... View Details
Keywords: Boards; Activist Investors; Proxy Battles; Shareholder Activism; Peer Firm; Ratio Analysis; Financial Accounting; Financial Analysis; Board Of Directors; Boards Of Directors; Financial Intermediaries; Financial Analysts; CEO Turnover; New CEO; Peer Groups; Hedge Fund; Hedge Funds; Proxy Contest; Proxy Fight; Proxy Advisor; Proxy Battle; Financial Statement Analysis; Financial Strategy; Corporate Governance; Corporate Disclosure; Governing and Advisory Boards; Competition; Valuation; Business Strategy; Value Creation; Business and Shareholder Relations; Financial Reporting; Financial Statements; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States
- Summer 2013
- Article
A Tale of Two Stories: Sustainability and the Quarterly Earnings Call
By: Robert G. Eccles and George Serafeim
One of the challenges companies claim to face in making sustainability a core part of their strategy and operations is that the market does not care about sustainability, either in general or because the time frames in which it matters are too long. The response of... View Details
- January 2013 (Revised August 2013)
- Case
First Solar: CFRA's Accounting Quality Concerns
By: Suraj Srinivasan and Ian McKown Cornell
The case relates to accounting quality analysis conducted by the leading research firm Center for Financial Research and Analysis (CFRA) on companies in the solar industry with a focus on First Solar Inc. In 2009, CFRA was concerned that First Solar, like much of the... View Details
Keywords: Accounting; Accounting Quality; Financial Accounting; Financial Statement Analysis; Accounting Fraud; Accounting Red Flags; Accounting Scandal; Risk and Uncertainty; Quality; Earnings Management; Valuation; Crime and Corruption; Financial Statements; Energy Sources; Green Technology Industry; Accounting Industry; Energy Industry
- Spring 2013
- Article
Does Mandatory IFRS Adoption Improve the Information Environment?
By: Joanne Horton, George Serafeim and Ioanna Serafeim
We examine the effect of mandatory International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) adoption on firms' information environment. We find that after mandatory IFRS adoption, consensus forecast errors decrease for firms that mandatorily adopt IFRS relative to forecast... View Details
- December 2012
- Case
Trouble Brewing for Green Mountain Coffee Roasters
By: Suraj Srinivasan and Michael Norris
In October 2011, noted hedge fund manager David Einhorn of Greenlight Capital delivered a presentation at an investors' conference analyzing the business and accounting quality weaknesses of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters. Until then Green Mountain had exhibited rapid... View Details
Keywords: Accounting Fraud; Accounting Quality; Accounting Red Flags; Accounting Restatements; Accounting Scandal; Accounting Information; Financial Accounting; Financial Analysts; Financial Analysis; Financial Intermediaries; Hedge Funds; Financial Ratios; Financial Statement Analysis; Valuation Methodologies; Earnings Quality; Accounting; Quality; Earnings Management; Valuation; Crime and Corruption; Mergers and Acquisitions; Financial Reporting; Investment Funds; Financial Statements; Food and Beverage Industry
- August 2011 (Revised July 2012)
- Case
Mike Mayo Takes on Citigroup (A)
By: Suraj Srinivasan and Amy Kaser
The case details the conflict between Mike Mayo, an influential banking analyst and Citigroup about what Mayo considers aggressive accounting policies. Mike Mayo questions Citigroup's lack of a valuation allowance against their Deferred Tax Assets despite Citi's recent... View Details
- June 2011
- Case
CA Technologies: Bringing the Cloud to Earth
By: Marco Iansiti and Kerry Herman
Adam Famularo, general manager, Cloud Computing business, CA Technologies, and David Dobson, WVP and group executive, Customer Solutions Group, were preparing for a presentation on communicating and positioning CA Technologies' new strategy for cloud computing.... View Details
- May 2011
- Article
Consequences and Institutional Determinants of Unregulated Corporate Financial Statements: Evidence from Embedded Value Reporting
By: George Serafeim
I analyze Embedded Value (EV) reporting by firms with life insurance operations to assess the impact of unregulated financial reporting on transparency and to examine the institutional characteristics that promote unregulated reporting. Under EV accounting the present... View Details
- March 2011
- Article
Accounting Scholarship That Advances Professional Knowledge and Practice
By: Robert S. Kaplan
Recent accounting scholarship has used statistical analysis on asset prices, financial reports and disclosures, laboratory experiments, and surveys of practice. The research has studied the interface among accounting information, capital markets, standard setters, and... View Details
- January 2011
- Case
Sidoti & Company: Launching a Micro-Cap Product
By: Boris Groysberg, Paul M. Healy and Sarah Abbott
It is 2010 and Sidoti & Company, a New York-based brokerage firm specializing in small capitalization stocks, has just launched a new product- micro cap stock research. The firm has hired a group of five analysts who will produce written research reports on micro-cap... View Details
- October 2010 (Revised July 2012)
- Supplement
Robin Bienenstock at Sanford C. Bernstein
By: Linda A. Hill and Dana Teppert
Robin Bienenstock, a senior sell-side equity research analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein, considers how to build her research franchise given the changing nature of the industry and the firm. A collaborative research paper called "Computer in Your Pocket" was recently... View Details
- 2010
- Working Paper
Accounting Scholarship that Advances Professional Knowledge and Practice
By: Robert S. Kaplan
Recent accounting scholarship has used statistical analysis on asset prices, financial reports and disclosures, laboratory experiments, and surveys of practice. The research has studied the interface among accounting information, capital markets, standard setters, and... View Details
- 2010
- Working Paper
When Do Analysts Add Value? Evidence from Corporate Spinoffs
By: Emilie Rose Feldman, Stuart Gilson and Belen Villalonga
We investigate the information content and forecast accuracy of 1,793 analyst reports written around 62 spinoffs—a setting in which analysts' ability to inform investors is potentially very high. We find that analysts pay little attention to subsidiaries about to be... View Details
- November 2008
- Journal Article
Can Research Committees Add Value for Investors? An Analysis of Lehman Brothers' Ten Uncommon Values® Recommendations
By: Boris Groysberg, Paul M. Healy and Yang Gui
Since 1949 Lehman Brothers has used an investment committee to select the top ten recommendations made by its analysts each year. We examine the performance of this committee's recommendations and find that on average its selections generated abnormal returns of 2.7%... View Details
- November 2007
- Case
The 1995 Release of the Institutional Investor Research Report: The Impact of New Information
By: Boris Groysberg, Nitin Nohria and Derek Haas
In 1995, Institutional Investor magazine began selling a complete ranking of the best equity research analysts. This report allowed research firms to assess the relative quality of each analyst across the industry, and this enabled firms to know nearly as much about... View Details
- November 2006 (Revised March 2008)
- Case
Kendall Square Research Corporation
Kendall Square Research was a small competitor in the supercomputer industry. Sales grew rapidly in 1992 and early 1993 and the company sold stock to the public for the first time. Analysts forecast higher earnings for 1993, then the company's revenue recognition... View Details
- November 2006
- Case
Selling Biovail Short
By: Malcolm P. Baker, Chris Lombardi and Aldo Sesia
Hedge fund SAC Capital and analysts from Gradient Analytics and Banc of America face charges of stock price manipulation from Biovail, a Canadian pharmaceutical company. Gradient and BofA produced negative reports on Biovail's earnings quality. At the same time, SAC... View Details
- August 2006 (Revised August 2007)
- Case
Revenue Recognition Problems in the Communications Equipment Industry
By: Paul M. Healy and Arjuna J Costa
Designed to explore recognition issues in the context of a potential market downturn. In late 2000, Lucent Technologies reports multiple revisions to its recent financial results due to revenue recognition problems, leading to a dramatic decline in its stock price.... View Details
- May 2006
- Case
Nokia in 2003
By: Paul M. Healy
Examines the challenges facing a money manager who owns stock in Nokia, the leading wireless handset provider. Two analysts covering the stock make very different predictions about the economies of the industry, Nokia's future performance, and stock recommendations.... View Details
- August 2005 (Revised April 2007)
- Case
DICOM Group plc and Captiva Software Corp.
By: Paul M. Healy
Compares two companies in the information capture software industry. Asks students to analyze and compare the performance of two companies (one in the United Kingdom and the other in the United States) from the perspective of a buy-side analyst reporting to the manager... View Details