Market uncertainty and earnings guidance

We test a theory about ambiguity surrounding the distribution of fundamental values to determine how market uncertainty affects earnings guidance perception and behavior. We find a more pronounced negative share price response to negative earnings guidance and a lower likelihood that management issues negative guidance under conditions of greater market uncertainty. Yet, we also find that the share price response to positive guidance is not related to the level of market uncertainty, while the likelihood of issuing positive guidance decreases with market uncertainty. The asymmetric effects of market uncertainty on earnings guidance perception and behavior support the ambiguity based pricing theories. (C) 2015 Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.