Investigating the Relationship between Stock Liquidity and Firm Value

Abstract

Purpose: This paper aims to investigate the effect of stock liquidity on firm value (MV), operating income to price (OIP), market value of equity to market value of the asset (MVEA), and operating income to assets (OIA) ratios in Bangladesh. This paper also investigates whether firm size, leverage, or financial crisis have any moderating role to play on the liquidity-firm value relationship. Method: The study used panel data on 159 nonfinancial firms listed in the Dhaka Stock Exchange for the period of 2006 to 2019. Ordinary Least Squares, Fixed Effect, and Two-Stage least Squares estimation methods are used to determine the desired relationship. Results: The results show that stock liquidity has a positive and significant impact on firm value and the results are robust to alternative estimation techniques. The relationship is found more acute for small and less levered firms and more intense in the post-crisis (after the 2010 stock market crash) period in Bangladesh. Implications: The role of firm size, leverage, or financial crisis on the liquidity-firm value relationship will help corporate managers to adopt policies and strategies for improving the stock liquidity, changing investors' perceptions, and overall, increasing the depth and stability of the capital market in Bangladesh or elsewhere. Limitations: Due to the unavailability of data, for the robustness check, we couldn't use any alternative proxy of stock liquidity such as bid-ask spreads.