Stock repurchase in Korea: Market reactions and operating performance

Abstract

This study examines the motive for stock repurchase. We examine four hypotheses - undervaluation, signaling, free cash flow, and optimal leverage hypotheses - using both short-run and long-run market reactions. We find that the undervaluation hypothesis is most consistent with both short-run and long-run tests. Improvement in operating performance following repurchase suggests the signaling hypothesis. However, the signaling hypothesis is supported only in the long-run test, not the short-run test, suggesting that market underreaction exists to the signaling initially. Of the control variables, the target purchase ratio and ownership by the largest shareholders are found significant, suggesting that the magnitude of repurchase and the ownership increase motive by the largest shareholders are also important factors that explain the repurchase. © World Scientific Publishing Co. and Center for Pacific Basin Business, Economics and Finance Research.