Do sentimental investors price rational information? Evidence from the Boston Celtics
ISSN: 0307-4358
Article publication date: 18 May 2020
Issue publication date: 3 November 2020
Abstract
Purpose
Much evidence exists that rational investors factor rational information into their valuation of shares. This paper aims to examine whether sentimental investors do the same.
Design/methodology/approach
To investigate this issue, the author measures sentimental investors’ reaction to the surprise player transactions of the Boston Celtics, which traded on the New York Stock Exchange for 18 years. The team’s shares were bought mainly as souvenirs by sports fans, whose largely unwavering support makes them perhaps the least likely investors to be influenced by rational information. Thus, if the team’s share price changes because of the arrival of rational information, evidence that sentimental traders price rational information into their valuation of a stock will exist.
Findings
An acquired player’s salary, education and firm-specific experience with the Boston Celtics cause higher returns. This result provides evidence that sentimental traders factor rational information into their valuations of shares. On a broader scale, the findings underscore the importance of rational information to the valuation process, as even sentimental investors price rational information into a stock that is held for sentimental reasons. Moreover, the results are consistent with the nudge theory, in that the arrival of rational information encourages (i.e. nudges) sentimental investors to price the rational information as a rational investor world.
Originality/value
This study is the first to show that sentimental traders also factor rational information into the valuation process – an idea that was likely assumed prior to this study, but was never substantiated.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
I thank Ramin Baghai, Elizabeth Berger, Asaf Bernstein, Greg Brown, Jonathan Cohn, Charles Danso, Jocelyn Evans, Isaac Hacamo, Jay Hartzell, Jordan Martel, Paige Ouimet, Nilesh Sah, Elena Simintzi, Chris Stanton, Erdem Ucar, Victor Matheson, Ed Van Wesep, Glenn Williams and seminar participants at the 2016 Southern Finance Association Annual Meeting, the 2016 Labor and Finance Group Winter Meeting and the 2018 North American Association of Sports Economists (NAASE) Meeting for their valuable feedback on earlier versions of this paper. Earlier versions of this paper were titled “The Market’s Reaction to Changes at the Employee Level: Evidence from the Boston Celtics,” “Which Employee Characteristics Move Stock Prices? Evidence from the Boston Celtics” and “Employee Characteristics and Stock Prices: Evidence from the Boston Celtics.”
Citation
Carter, K. (2020), "Do sentimental investors price rational information? Evidence from the Boston Celtics", Managerial Finance, Vol. 46 No. 9, pp. 1199-1214. https://doi.org/10.1108/MF-11-2019-0573
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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