We investigate the relation between a firm’s product warranty level and its leverage. We find that leverage relates negatively to the warranty level and that this relation is robust to controls for endogeneity and self-selection into offering warranties. The negative warranty-leverage relation obtains only in the subsample of firms in the manufacturing industries. We also show that firms with warranties have the lowest debt levels, firms without warranties but operating in industries where other firms offer warranties on average carry higher debt, and firms in industries where no firm offers a warranty have the highest debt levels.

Mutual funds typically invest a disproportionately large portion of their portfolio in one industry (main industry). We present a simple theoretical model to demonstrate that better mutual fund managers make larger investments in the important supplier/customer industries related to the main industry. Consistent with our theory, empirical tests on a large sample of mutual funds show that investment in related industries is positively associated with fund performance and plays a more significant role in explaining fund performance than investment in the main industry. Furthermore, the positive relation between main investment and fund performance obtains only when related investment is high.