Profitability in Asset Pricing Models for Chinese Equities 1996-2016

Abstract

I follow Novy Marx (2011, 2013) to investigate and compare firms’ gross profit, operating leverage as predictors of returns for a cross-section of traded Chinese equities spanning from1996-2016. I use portfolio tests and Fama-MacBeth regressions, find that gross-profit-to-market-capitalization ratios significantly predict returns on sampled stocks. I also find that sorting portfolios by gross profitability and size outperforms in the Chinese market. Hence, I create a Market-Profitability-Size model that captures profitability and size premium among returns of sampled stocks. Based on Gibbons-Ross-Shanken test and economic value, I demonstrate that my enhanced model outperforms Fama-French multiple-factor model in isolating influences on equity returns.