Earnings announcements and option returns

Sung Gon Chung and Henock Louis

Journal of Empirical Finance, 2017, vol. 40, issue C, 220-235

Abstract: While prior studies find that returns on option straddles are generally negative, we show that returns on straddles purchased prior to earnings announcements are actually positive. The earnings announcement impact is compounded when the pre-portfolio formation volatility is low (high) and the pre-expiration realized volatility is high (low). Apparently, the average option trader underestimates future volatility before forthcoming earnings announcements, particularly after a period of relatively low volatility, and overestimates future volatility after recent earnings announcements, particularly after a period of relatively high volatility. The overestimation of future volatility after recent earnings announcements also increases with the magnitude of the earnings surprise.

Keywords: Earnings announcement; Option pricing; Stock return volatility (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0927539816300743
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:empfin:v:40:y:2017:i:c:p:220-235

DOI: 10.1016/j.jempfin.2016.07.010

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Empirical Finance is currently edited by R. T. Baillie, F. C. Palm, Th. J. Vermaelen and C. C. P. Wolff

More articles in Journal of Empirical Finance from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().