The Signaling Power of Specially Designated Dividends
检验特别指定股息公告对股价的影响，发现托宾q小于1的公司股价反应更大且盈利预测上调，支持条件信号假说，而非自由现金流或财富转移假说。
We distinguish among the signaling, free cash flow, and wealth transfer hypotheses in explaining the stock price reaction to specially designated dividend (SDD) announcements. In a direct test of the signaling power of SDDs, we find both a larger stock price reaction and a significant upward revision of earnings forecasts for firms with Tobin's q less than one, but not for other firms. Our results support the conditional signaling hypothesis, which predicts greater effects of favorable information for low q firms. Taken together, our results for stock price effects and earnings forecast revisions do not support either the free cash flow or wealth transfer hypotheses.