Do analysts fully reflect information in patents about future earnings?

Abstract

This study investigates the relationship between a firm's intellectual property (measured by patents) and its future business performance and information environments by focusing on financial analysts' forecasting behavior. The results show that patent citations have more influence on future profitability than patent counts and financial analysts pay more attention to firms with patent citations by showing higher followings for those firms. However, the findings also suggest that analyst forecasts do not fully reflect the implications of the effect of patent citations on future earnings and this under-valuation can mislead investors. Thus, we conclude that financial analysts 'partially' improve the information environment in terms of patent citations.