Capital investment is an investment activity that a corporate performs expecting a future profit generation capability, and it is also a source of corporate earning power, and a significant factor that has a direct impact on a future cash flow. This r...
Capital investment is an investment activity that a corporate performs expecting a future profit generation capability, and it is also a source of corporate earning power, and a significant factor that has a direct impact on a future cash flow. This research analyzed impacts on the stock returns of firm-specific capital investment (estimate by growth rate in capital expenditure) as the proxy for cash flow risk in Korean stock market.
According to the analysis, growth rate in capital expenditure 〔Ln(1+CEG_(i,t-1))〕 showed a significant negative correlation with stock returns. That is, subsequent monthly returns are significantly lower for firms that have a high growth rate in capital expenditure. This explains that a corporate invests through optimal investment decisions, through which a firm size becomes larger and the risk of future cash flow is reduced, leading to a low stock returns. In addition, the multiple regression analysis including control variables has found that the capital investment as a proxy for a cash flow risk is a risk factor which cannot be explained by the beta(β^(p)_(i,t-1)) as an proxy for a systematic risk, and by the firm size〔Ln(ME_(i,t-1))〕, book-to-market value(B/M_(i,t-1)), which are proxies for a common risk factor.
Analysis of relations between a growth rate in capital expenditure and an stock returns before and after IMF crisis has shown that the correlation after IMF crisis was weaker than before IMF crisis. This is because market volatility became greater after IMF crisis to effect on the analysis finding. Another cause is a capital investment did not increase due to the conservative corporate management adopted since IMF crisis.
Time-series analysis was conducted to see if the growth rate in capital expenditure as a proxy for a cash flow risk can perform the role of pricing factor together with the three factors of Fama and French such as a market factor, a firm size factor, and a book-to-market factor. The finding of the analysis shows that the factor for a firm-specific capital expenditure(R_(CEGlow,t_ - R_(CEGhigh,t)) fully explains common variation of stock returns with market factor(R_(m,t) - R_(f,t)), firm size factor(R_(MEsmall,t) - R_(MEbig,t)), and it can be used as a pricing model like the three factor model of Fama and French.
The finding of this research is expected to be positively used for a risk reduction or an stock returns improvement at an actual stock investment, and providing an objective ground for relations between a capital investment as the proxy for a cash flow risk and a stock returns, as well as it can offer some implication regarding the drawing of a precise stock pricing model.
This research says that the increase of market volatility after IMF crisis had considerable effects on the analysis of stock returns. Accordingly, additional analysis needs to be conducted through the extension of research period.