The Effects of Earnings Guidance on Investors’ Perceptions of Firm Credibility in a Two-Firm Setting

Abstract

This study investigates how a peer firm's earnings guidance affects investors' credibility assessments of a target firm. Results suggest that when both a target firm and a peer firm provide earnings guidance, contrast effects occur such that the more accurate the earnings guidance of the target firm relative to the peer, the greater are investors' credibility assessments for the target. However, such contrast effect diminishes as the target firm's earnings guidance becomes more accurate. On the contrary, when a peer provides earnings guidance but the target firm does not, assimilation effects as opposed to contrast effects dominate investors' credibility judgments.