How Do Underwriters Select Peers When Valuing IPOs?
研究发现承销商在IPO估值时系统性地排除那些会使IPO显得高估的可比公司，导致招股书中可比公司的估值倍数比算法或分析师选择的公司高13%-38%，且偏差越大长期表现越差。
Valuing initial public offerings (IPOs) using multiples allows underwriters discretion when selecting comparable firms. We find that they systematically exclude candidate comparable firms that make a given IPO appear overvalued. On average, comparable firms published in official prospectuses have 13%‐38% higher valuation multiples than those obtained from matching algorithms or selected by sell‐side analysts, including the same underwriter's analyst after the IPO. Even if IPOs are priced at a discount as compared to peers selected by the underwriters, they are still at a premium with regard to alternatively selected peers. Greater bias in the underwriter's selection of peers leads to poorer long run performance.