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Abstract
The objective of this study was to provide additional evidence on the relationship between financial leverage and the market value of common stock.
Numerous empirical studies have been done in this area, and, concurrently, many theories have been developed to explain the relationship between financial leverage and the market value of common stock. Because of the methodological weaknesses of past studies, however, no conclusions can be drawn as to the validity of the theories.
Theories on financial leverage may be classified into three categories: irrelevance theorem, rising from value indefinitely with increase in financial leverage, and optimal financial leverage. Empirical implications of these categories along with the consequences of serious confounding effects are analyzed. The implications are then compared with evidence from actual events involving financial leverage changes, and distinguished from each other as finely as possible, using simple and multiple regression analyses, normal Z-test, and a simulation technique.
The evidence shows that changes in the market value of common stock are positively related to changes in financial leverage for some firms and negatively related for other firms. This evidence is consistent with the existence of an optimal financial leverage for each firm, assuming that financial leverages of firms with a positive relationship are below the optimum and those of firms with a negative relationship are above the optimum.
The results of the study do not depend upon the definition of the market portfolio, the definition of the event period, or the choice of financial leverage measure. Betas estimated from equally weighted market portfolios were generally higher than those estimated from value weighted market portfolios during 1981-1982. However, the results of the study were the same for both portfolios. Abnormal returns were computed for seven and two day event periods, and the results were the same for both periods. Seven different definitions of financial leverage were tested, and the results were the same for all measures.
