Improved calendar time approach for measuring long-run anomalies

Abstract

Although a large number of recent studies employ the buy-and-hold abnormal return (BHAR) methodology and the calendar time portfolio approach to investigate the long-run anomalies, each of the methods is a subject to criticisms. In this paper, we show that a recently introduced calendar time methodology, known as Standardized Calendar Time Approach (SCTA), controls well for heteroscedastic-ity problem which occurs in calendar time methodology due to varying portfolio compositions. In addition, we document that SCTA has higher power than the BHAR methodology and the Fama–French three-factor model while detecting the long-run abnormal stock returns. Moreover, when investigating the long-term performance of Canadian initial public offerings, we report that the market period (i.e. the hot and cold period markets) does not have any significant impact on calendar time abnor-mal returns based on SCTA.