Title: Asset growth and the cross section of stock returns - evidence from Vietnam

Authors: Xuan Vinh Vo; Hong Thu Bui

Addresses: University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City, 59C Nguyen Dinh Chieu Street, District 3, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; CFVG Ho Chi Minh City, 91 Ba Thang Hai Street, District 10, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam ' School of Economics and Finance, Ho Chi Minh City University of Foreign Languages and Information Technology, Vietnam

Abstract: This article sheds light on the question of whether asset growth is a strong candidate for firm stock returns prediction in the emerging market of Vietnam. We test for the asset investment effects in stock returns at the firm level by examining the relationship between the rate of asset growth and subsequent stock returns. We use a large and unique dataset of market and accounting variables of firms listed on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange for the period from 2008 to 2012. Employing the method similar to Gray and Johnson (2011), our results indicate that asset growth has no significant effect on stock returns in Vietnam stock market. Our results tend to support the findings of Fama and French (2008) but contradict the results of Cooper et al. (2008) and Gray and Johnson (2011) in the context of developed markets.

Keywords: asset growth; stock returns; Vietnam; stock markets; emerging markets.

DOI: 10.1504/AAJFA.2016.080517

Afro-Asian Journal of Finance and Accounting, 2016 Vol.6 No.4, pp.289 - 304

Received: 11 Feb 2015
Accepted: 19 Feb 2016
Published online: 28 Nov 2016 *

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