Is sustainable competitive advantage an advantage for stock investors?

Yi Liu and Tomas Mantecon

The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, 2017, vol. 63, issue C, 299-314

Abstract: Investing in stocks of companies with sustainable competitive advantage, the moat, does not earn higher raw returns. These companies tend to be larger, financially stronger, and have lower book-to-market ratios (growth stocks). After controlling for size, book-to-market ratio and other risk factors, sustainable competitive advantages is a positive factor affecting cross-section of stock returns. Firms with sustainable competitive advantage also seem to be shielded from mean reversion of higher profitability better than non-wide moat firms.

Keywords: Investment; Economic moat; Sustainable competitive advantage; Asset pricing; Cross-section of stock returns (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G11 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:quaeco:v:63:y:2017:i:c:p:299-314

DOI: 10.1016/j.qref.2016.04.007

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