In other words, because analysts have underestimated the CEOs who don’t belong to their in-group, those CEOs’ companies more often surprise the market when earnings are reported, boosting share prices. Refining the analysis to male analysts only, the percentage of buys for companies led by men is higher by 4.21 points, and for sells on female-led companies it is 2.50 points higher. Female analysts tend to be less biased against male-run companies than male analysts are against female-run companies, the study finds. The study used a variety of databases to identify analyst and CEO gender, ethnicity, nationality and, through campaign donations, political affiliation. The study finds that female analysts tend to be less biased against male-run companies than male analysts are against female-run companies.

Source: Wall Street Journal April 06, 2017 14:36 UTC