This study investigates the market valuation of income smoothing via a long-run analysis of the relationship between income smoothing and return and risk in the Spanish stock market. The results suggest that firms that smooth income appear to yield higher stock returns than firms that do not; they also appear to carry a lower risk associated with size and book-to-market factors. The study concludes that the Spanish market is not efficient in this question because it overvalues firms that artificially smooth income, and because it is possible to reduce the stock's risk by manipulating accounting profits.

This paper provides an empirical assessment of the Feltham-Ohlson models, distinguishing between firms with positive and negative abnormal earnings. Abnormal earnings persistence and conservatism pdrameters differ for these two groups: this implies different earnings prediction models and valuation functions for both profit-making and loss-making firms. The analysis refers to the period 1991-1999 and uses a sample of Spanish firms quoted on the Madrid S.E. The results suggest that our contextual approach is more useful than the non-contextual one to predict future abnormal earnings and explain current prices. Although the Ohlson (1995) model is accurate in forecasting future abnormal earnings and stock prices. the results improve when firms with negative abnormal earnings are valued using a temporary model and firms with positive abnormal earnings using a more permanent one. The Feltham and Ohlson (1995) model generates the lowest forecast errors in the prediction of positive abnormal earnings, but it produces the least accurate results in forecasting prices.

Prior research documents an anomalous negative price-earnings relation when a simple earnings capitalization model is estimated for loss-making firms. Collins et al. (1999) suggest that the model is misspecified due to the omission of book value of equity. However, results from previous studies are confusing. We try to enrich prior literature by focusing on analysts' forecasts. In particular, we assess the role of earnings and book value in valuing loss firms using several measures based on the information provided by analysts. We hypothesize that the role of accounting figures depends on whether the loss firm is supported or not by investors. According to this argument, we construct several measures of investor support based on analysts' forecasts, and then test the value relevance of accounting information depending on the degree of support. Our results confirm the usefulness of the notion of 'investor support'. For those loss firms that are expected to liquidate, we find that the inclusion of book value of equity in the model removes the negative sign on the earnings coefficient. However, for those loss firms that are expected to reverse current losses, we find that the coefficient on earnings remains negative despite the inclusion of book value. Easton and Sommers (2003) verify the existence of a scale effect when price-level regressions are run, either with undeflated data or with per share data. Pinnuck and Lillis (2007) provide evidence that firms that are reporting losses are actually exercising the abandonment option, and therefore at least for some firms that equity value is mainly derived from the liquidation value.

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