Renata Turola Takamatsu

EBITDA margin in brazilian companies: Variance decomposition and hierarchical effects

This study explores the controversy between the business and academic perspectives regarding earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA). Some authors argue that EBITDA is not useful as an indicator, except for comparing companies within the same sector (Assaf Neto, 2003, McClure, 2006, Stumpp, 2000). On the other hand, the business world strongly uses this type of indicator as a tool to support its decisions (Schmalensee, 1985, Moraes, 2005). This difference in opinions has aroused interest in understanding the reasons for its use and has raised questions regarding the usefulness of EBITDA for comparing companies from both the same and different sectors. By applying Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM), the main goal of this research is to observe EBITDA behavior across companies selling goods in Brazil, comparing them within the same sector and across different sectors over time. This research allows for the analysis of the reasons why EBITDA patterns occasionally occur. The results show significant variation in EBITDA among companies across the same sector and across companies from different sectors. On the other hand, our results have shown, nevertheless, that the variability among companies from the same sector was the highest one, raising questions on the actual usefulness of this indicator to compare companies from the same sector.

Intuition and mood of investors in financial markets: An experiment focusing on zero-moment transactions

Purpose n n n n nThe purpose of this paper is to evaluate investor behaviour related to the timing of selling financial assets based on an intuitive evaluation of the current market trend and growth expectation. n n n n nDesign/methodology/approach n n n n nThe experiment involved 1,052 volunteer participants who made decisions about stock sales in an environment that simulated a home broker platform to negotiate stocks. Zero-inflated regression models were used. n n n n nFindings n n n n nThe results show that investors’ attitudes, or beliefs, determine whether they will buy or keep risky assets in their investment portfolios; they may decide to sell such assets, even though market shows an upward trend. Such results make a new contribution to behavioural finance within the context of prospect theory and the disposition effect. n n n n nOriginality/value n n n n nThe originality of this paper lies in the use of new and innovative techniques (zero-inflated Poisson and negative binomial regression models) applied to real data obtained experimentally.