The Economics of Value Investing Kewei Hou∗ Haitao Mo† The Ohio State University Louisiana State University and CAFR Chen Xue‡ Lu Zhang§ University of Cincinnati The Ohio State University and NBER June 2017 Abstract The investment CAPM provides an economic foundation for Graham and Dodd’s (1934) Security Analysis. Expected returns vary cross-sectionally, depending on firms’ invest- ment, profitability, and expected investment growth. Empirically, many anomaly vari- ables predict future changes in investment-to-assets, in the same direction in which these variables predict future returns. However, the expected investment growth effect in sorts is weak. The investment CAPM has different theoretical properties from Miller and Modigliani’s (1961) valuation model and Penman, Reggiani, Richardson, and Tuna’s (2017) characteristic model. In all, value investing is consistent with efficient markets. ∗Fisher College of Business, The Ohio State University, 820 Fisher Hall, 2100 Neil Avenue, Columbus OH 43210; and China Academy of Financial Research (CAFR). Tel: (614) 292-0552. E-mail:
[email protected]. †E. J. Ourso College of Business, Louisiana State University, 2931 Business Education Complex, Baton Rouge, LA 70803. Tel: (225) 578-0648. E-mail:
[email protected]. ‡Lindner College of Business, University of Cincinnati, 405 Lindner Hall, Cincinnati, OH 45221. Tel: (513) 556-7078. E-mail:
[email protected]. §Fisher College of Business, The Ohio State University, 760A Fisher Hall, 2100 Neil Avenue, Columbus OH 43210; and NBER. Tel: (614) 292-8644. E-mail: zhanglu@fisher.osu.edu. 1 Introduction In their masterpiece, Graham and Dodd (1934) lay the intellectual foundation for value investing. The basic philosophy is to invest in undervalued securities that are selling well below the intrinsic value.