This study investigates how audit quality moderates the effect of financial performance indicators on the stock returns of Amman Stock Exchange-listed firms (ASE). The panel data analysis selected the data of 95 ASE-listed firms from 2013 through 2021. This analysis demonstrates a significant inverse relationship between a company's book value and its stock returns. A statistically negative relationship was observed between cash flow, dividends per share, and stock return. The empirical results of this study confirm the moderating influence of audit quality in the relationship between financial performance and stock return. Firstly, auditor's fees have a significant impact on the relationship between firm stock returns and EPS, BV, DPS, and cash flows (CFO). The size of the auditing firm moderates the relationship between company stock returns and EPS, DPS, and the CFO, but not with book value (BV). The auditor's opinion moderates the relationship between business stock returns and EPS, BV, and DPS but not the relationship between firm stock returns and cash flows (CFO). The study suggests that regulatory bodies like the Companies Control Department (CCD) and ASE should make sure that local audit firms in Jordan improve their audit quality to be on par with the Big 4 audit firms in order to improve their financial performance measures and stock returns.

In this study, we attempted to conduct a comprehensive review of the existing and pertinent literature on the topic of factor investment. We performed Scientometric analysis of studies published in reputable finance journals, i.e., The Journal of Portfolio Management, The Financial Analysts Journal, The Journal of Asset Management and others, during the years 2014 to 2023. To obtain the research data for our study, we gathered and examined a collection of 76 bibliographic records sourced from the Web of Science database. This database provided a comprehensive and reliable source of scholarly publications in the field of finance. To analyze the data, we employed Scientometric networks as part of our analytical approach. Scientometric networks allowed us to explore the relationships and connections between different publications, authors, and keywords within the domain of factor investment. To visualize and present the research findings, we utilized the Bibliometrix package for R, a powerful tool specifically designed for bibliometric analysis. This package enabled us to generate insightful visualizations that showcased the key patterns, trends, and interconnections within the literature on factor investment. By employing Scientometric analysis and leveraging the capabilities of the Bibliometrix package, we aimed to provide a comprehensive overview of the existing scholarly research in this field and contribute to the understanding of factor investment.

The objective of this research was to investigate the effects caused by the announcement of mergers of SBI and its associate banks i.e. State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur (SBBJ), State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH), State Bank of Mysore (SBM), State Bank of Patiala (SBP) and State Bank of Travan-core (SBT) with State Bank of India on the volatility of the return of SBI stock during the event window of 300 days. In order to achieve the proposed objective, this study applied Generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity (Garch) class model to the return series to model their volatility because it is considered an important tool for time series data analysis. Our results confirmed the impact of the announcement of Merger on volatility. The results suggest that merger announcement was expected to cause a reaction in the returns, which is related to higher abnormal return in lesser time through merger announcement for investors.

The purpose of this study is to examine and analyze the direct and indirect effects of the variable ownership structure, board composition, dividend policy, and financial performance and stock returns in the manufacturing industry on the Indonesia Stock Exchange. The population of this research is manufacturing industrial companies on the IDX since 2015 and was still active until 2019. The sample obtained is 92 issuers who continuously distribute dividends. Testing the research hypothesis, using the structural equation model (SEM) with the Partial Least Square (PLS) software approach. The results show that the ownership structure significantly affected the composition of the board of directors and dividend policy. Ownership structure has no significant effect on stock returns and financial performance. The composition of the board of directors has a significant effect on dividend policy and financial performance but has no significant effect on stock returns. Dividend policy has a significant effect on financial performance but has no significant effect on stock returns. Financial performance has no significant effect on stock returns.

This article examines how investor sentiment affects stock returns on Vietnam's stock market. Investor sentiment index is measured by a relative strength index (RSI) of 57 companies listed on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange from January 1, 2015 to July 31, 2020. Control variables include investors' stock trading behavior, firm size, and cash flow per share. Using Fama-MacBeth regression estimation and general least square estimation (GSL) on a daily basis, both methods find the sentiment of high investors producing higher stock returns, on the contrary, the sentiment of low investors erodes stock returns. Different from the results of Brown and Cliff (2004) [Brown, G. W., & Cliff, M. T. (2004). Investor sentiment and the near-term stock market. Journal of empirical finance, 11(1), 1-27], the article found that the investor sentiment factor plays the most important role in explaining the return of the stock market compared to the rest of the factors.

Vietnam’s stock market although has small scale without a long history of development but the exchange has just started for a massive development. There have also been a number of anomalies, suggested that the market is not efficient. Therefore, there is a possibility that active investors with right strategy can consistently achieve higher profit than the market portfolio. This paper analyzes the statistical and economic significance of the calendar anomalies to propose appropriate strategies or recommendations. Studying the calendar anomalies in Vietnam also diversifies the research scope and validates some hypotheses in the past. In this research, the authors just analyze the monthly effects and the experimental results of this study may have significant implications not only for financial managers, financial advisers and investors but also for government to implement policy on stock market.

Spread plays essential role on market liquidity on any stock market. A high gap between bid and ask price may reduce the likelihood of trading activities while a small gap between bid and ask increases the chance of trade execution. In this paper, we present an empirical investigation on the effect of spread on abnormal return. The proposed study collects the necessary information from official statements as well as historical data over the period 2009-2013 reported on Tehran Stock Exchange to examine the relationship between spread and unusual firm performance. Using regression analysis, the study has determined a meaningful relationship between abnormal return and spread.

This paper presents an empirical investigation to study the effects of quality of earnings forecasts in predicting stock returns on 121 selected firms traded on Tehran Stock Exchange over the period 2009-2013. The study investigates the effects of three year means of earnings forecast accuracy on investors’ investment decisions in terms of volume and time horizon, i.e. short term and long term investment sentiment. Using some regression analysis, the study has determined a positive and meaningful relationship between the quality of earnings forecast and investment time horizon. However, the study did not find any meaningful relationship between earnings forecast accuracy and volume of investment.

Measuring the effects of various factors influencing on risk of return in banking system plays essential role on making managerial decisions. This paper investigates the effects of seven factors including equities, leverage, dividend, size, growth domestic products, bank concentration and market return on risk of return in selected banks listed on Tehran Stock Exchange. The study selects the necessary data through financial statements announced on exchange as well as macro-economic figures reported by central bank of Iran to examine the hypotheses of the survey. Using some regression technique, the study has determined that only bank size and growth domestic product influence significantly on risk of return on Tehran Stock Exchange.

This paper presents an empirical investigation to the study the effects of various factors such as free cash flow, earnings, Tobin’s Q on predicting stock performance on Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE) over the period 2005-2012. The study is performed on data from different industries including basic metals, cements, chemical, auto industry, etc. The proposed model gathers the necessary data from TSE and using various regression models, the study has determined that there was a meaningful relationship between cash value added, Earnings and Tobin’s Q when the level of significance was five percent but there was not any meaningful relationship between stock earnings and free cash flow.