Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Home
  • Current Issue
  • Past Issues
  • Videos
  • Submit an article
  • More
    • About JFDS
    • Editorial Board
    • Published Ahead of Print (PAP)
  • IPR logos x
  • About Us
  • Journals
  • Publish
  • Advertise
  • Videos
  • Webinars
  • More
    • Awards
    • Article Licensing
    • Academic Use
  • Follow IIJ on LinkedIn
  • Follow IIJ on Twitter

User menu

  • Sample our Content
  • Request a Demo
  • Log in

Search

  • ADVANCED SEARCH: Discover more content by journal, author or time frame
The Journal of Financial Data Science
  • IPR logos x
  • About Us
  • Journals
  • Publish
  • Advertise
  • Videos
  • Webinars
  • More
    • Awards
    • Article Licensing
    • Academic Use
  • Sample our Content
  • Request a Demo
  • Log in
The Journal of Financial Data Science

The Journal of Financial Data Science

ADVANCED SEARCH: Discover more content by journal, author or time frame

  • Home
  • Current Issue
  • Past Issues
  • Videos
  • Submit an article
  • More
    • About JFDS
    • Editorial Board
    • Published Ahead of Print (PAP)
  • Follow IIJ on LinkedIn
  • Follow IIJ on Twitter

When More Or Less Is Less: Managers’ Clichés

Julia Klevak, Joshua Livnat and Kate Suslava
The Journal of Financial Data Science Summer 2019, 1 (3) 57-67; DOI: https://doi.org/10.3905/jfds.2019.1.3.057
Julia Klevak
is a vice president, systems development at QMA in Newark, NJ
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Joshua Livnat
is professor emeritus of accounting in the Stern School of Business at New York University in New York, NY, and the managing director and head of research at QMA in Newark, NJ
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Kate Suslava
is an assistant professor in the Freeman College of Management at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, PA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF (Subscribers Only)
Loading

Click to login and read the full article.

Don’t have access? Click here to request a demo 
Alternatively, Call a member of the team to discuss membership options
US and Overseas: +1 646-931-9045
UK: 0207 139 1600

Abstract

In their communications with the public, company managers disclose internal information, sometimes unwittingly. Prior studies have documented that the tone change in earnings conference calls can help predict future excess returns. Similarly, managers who use euphemisms on earnings calls to describe negative performance (think “headwinds”) essentially convey negative information to investors, and their stock is negatively affected. This study investigates another mechanism to identify management’s hedging (or obfuscation): the use of clichés. In this article, the authors identify the most frequently used clichés in earnings calls and examine whether investors react negatively to them. They find that managers use more clichés when performance is bad, and investors correctly react negatively to clichés, even after controlling for negative earnings news and the general tone of the earnings conference call. They also find that a hedge portfolio consisting of long positions in companies that used no clichés and short positions in companies that used at least four clichés earned an average of 2% per month and had a statistically significant intercept of 40 bps monthly after controlling for the five-factor Fama–French model.

TOPICS:Security analysis and valuation, quantitative methods, factors, risk premia, performance measurement

  • © 2019 Pageant Media Ltd
View Full Text

Don’t have access? Click here to request a demo

Alternatively, Call a member of the team to discuss membership options

US and Overseas: +1 646-931-9045

UK: 0207 139 1600

Log in using your username and password

Forgot your user name or password?
PreviousNext
Back to top

Explore our content to discover more relevant research

  • By topic
  • Across journals
  • From the experts
  • Monthly highlights
  • Special collections

In this issue

The Journal of Financial Data Science: 1 (3)
The Journal of Financial Data Science
Vol. 1, Issue 3
Summer 2019
  • Table of Contents
  • Index by author
  • Complete Issue (PDF)
Print
Download PDF
Article Alerts
Sign In to Email Alerts with your Email Address
Email Article

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on The Journal of Financial Data Science.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
When More Or Less Is Less: Managers’ Clichés
(Your Name) has sent you a message from The Journal of Financial Data Science
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the The Journal of Financial Data Science web site.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Citation Tools
When More Or Less Is Less: Managers’ Clichés
Julia Klevak, Joshua Livnat, Kate Suslava
The Journal of Financial Data Science Jul 2019, 1 (3) 57-67; DOI: 10.3905/jfds.2019.1.3.057

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Save To My Folders
Share
When More Or Less Is Less: Managers’ Clichés
Julia Klevak, Joshua Livnat, Kate Suslava
The Journal of Financial Data Science Jul 2019, 1 (3) 57-67; DOI: 10.3905/jfds.2019.1.3.057
del.icio.us logo Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo CiteULike logo Facebook logo Google logo LinkedIn logo Mendeley logo
Tweet Widget Facebook Like LinkedIn logo

Jump to section

  • Article
    • Abstract
    • CLICHÉS IN LANGUAGE
    • THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE CLICHÉ SCORE
    • RESEARCH DESIGN
    • DATA
    • RESULTS
    • SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
    • ADDITIONAL READING
    • APPENDIX
    • ENDNOTES
    • REFERENCES
  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF

Similar Articles

Cited By...

  • No citing articles found.
  • Google Scholar
LONDON
One London Wall, London, EC2Y 5EA
0207 139 1600
 
NEW YORK
41 Madison Avenue, 20th Floor, New York, NY 10010
646 931 9045
pm-research@pageantmedia.com

Stay Connected

  • Follow IIJ on LinkedIn
  • Follow IIJ on Twitter

MORE FROM PMR

  • Home
  • Awards
  • Investment Guides
  • Videos
  • About PMR

INFORMATION FOR

  • Academics
  • Agents
  • Authors
  • Content Usage Terms

GET INVOLVED

  • Advertise
  • Publish
  • Article Licensing
  • Contact Us
  • Subscribe Now
  • Sign In
  • Update your profile
  • Give us your feedback

© 2021 Pageant Media Ltd | All Rights Reserved | ISSN: 2640-3943 | E-ISSN: 2640-3951

  • Site Map
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookies