The Informational Role of Investor Relations: Evidence from the Debt Market
研究投资者关系部门如何帮助信用投资者理解盈利信息，发现其能改善信息精度、降低透明度风险，并带来更高信用评级和更少契约条款。
ABSTRACT We explore the role of investor relations (IR) in debt markets. Using earnings announcements as a laboratory, we examine whether, when, and to what extent IR departments help credit investors assimilate information. We find that the presence of IR decreases (increases) the negative (positive) impact on CDS spreads stemming from bad (good) earnings news, suggesting that IR efforts improve information precision and reduce transparency risk. Cross-sectional analyses suggest that IR matters more when uncertainty is high and creditors are concerned about the credit risk implications of firm performance. We also find that IR firms receive higher credit ratings and fewer covenants when issuing bonds, and CDS markets react less negatively when IR firms' bond ratings are downgraded below investment grade. Because firms choose their IR activities, we show that our inferences are robust to multiple methods of addressing endogeneity. Overall, we find that IR departments are influential in debt markets.