Companies issuing stock during 1970 1990, whether an initial public offering (IPO) or a seasoned equity offering (SEO), have been poor long run investments for investors. During the five years after the issue, investors have received average returns of only 5% per year for companies going public and only 7% per year for companies conducting an SEO. Book to market effects account for only a modest portion of the low returns. An investor would have had to invest 44% more money in the issuers than in non issuers of the same size to have the same wealth five years after the offering date.

The 1964 Securities Acts Amendments extended disclosures mandated of NYSE firms to most firms trading in the Over-the-Counter (OTC) market. Although some prior evidence suggests substantial value increases for OTC firms due to the “value enhancing” mandated disclosures, we find no statistical difference in announcement returns for OTC firms moving to the NYSE before and after the legislation. One purported advantage to investors from the 1964 legislation was increased financial reporting. Yet, we document that the bulk of OTC firms analyzed in prior studies was already providing investors financial information before the legislation. Apparently, investors did not value the mandated disclosures. We do find evidence that the NYSE benefited from the legislation by increasing the number of OTC firms switching to their exchange around its passage.