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Earnings and Equity Valuation in the Biotech Industry: Theory and Evidence
Author(s) -
Joos Philip,
Zhdanov Alexei
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
financial management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.647
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1755-053X
pISSN - 0046-3892
DOI - 10.1111/j.1755-053x.2008.00020.x
Subject(s) - earnings , valuation (finance) , equity (law) , initial public offering , economics , business , financial economics , empirical evidence , monetary economics , accounting , philosophy , epistemology , political science , law
We examine how the price‐earnings relation varies with the uncertainty about and the quality of a firm's investments. We develop a real option valuation framework to capture investment and abandonment options in the research‐intensive biotechnology industry. We hypothesize that the price‐earnings relation will be V‐shaped and change over the firm 's life cycle. We also show how nonfinancial information affects the pricing of earnings. Our empirical findings are based on a sample of 301 biotechnology firms that made IPOs between 1980 and 2000, and are generally consistent with our predictions.