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Stephen Foerster

Professor, Finance

Stephen Foerster

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Expertise

  • Initial Public Offerings
  • Stock Markets
  • Behavioural Finance
  • Cross-Listings

Research Publications

  • To search for publications by a specific faculty member, select the database and then select the name from the Author drop down menu.

Steve Foerster is a Professor of Finance at Ivey Business School, where he has taught since 1987. He received a BA (Honors Business Administration) from Western University, and an MA and PhD from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. He obtained the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation in 1997 and has taught Financial Management, Investments, and Portfolio Management courses in the HBA, MBA, and Executive MBA Programs. He has won numerous teaching and research awards.

Foerster’s most recent book is In Pursuit of the Perfect Portfolio: The Stories, Voices, and Key Insights of the Pioneers Who Shaped the Way We Invest (with Andrew Lo, MIT Sloan School), Princeton University Press, 2021. Foerster has also written two textbooks: Financial Management: A Primer, and Financial Management: Concepts and Applications. Foerster has written over 100 cases and technical notes in the areas of investments and financial management. He has over 50 publications including empirical studies in leading academic journals such as the Journal of Financial Economics, the Journal of Finance, the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, as well as practitioner-oriented publications such as Canadian Investment Review. He has also co-authored Cases in Financial Management and is editor of Finance and Money Market Cases.

Foerster has been a consultant and executive training course designer and facilitator in portfolio management, finance for non-financial executives, value-based management, risk management and other investment areas. Foerster is a member of the Advisory Board of Financial Economics Network (FEN) Courses, Cases and Teaching Abstracts Journal and is a former member of the Editorial Board of Financial Analysts Journal and Pacific-Basin Finance Journal. Foerster is currently a member of Western's joint pension board and was formerly a director and chair of the Investment Committee of Foundation Western (Western's alumni endowment fund) and was on the Advisory Board of Tremont Capital Opportunity Trust.

Foerster writes regularly for his blog, The Perfect Portfolio Investing Blog, for medium.com.

Teaching

  • Managing Financial Resources, EMBA
  • J.D. Irving Finance for Leaders, Executive Education

Education

  • BA, Hons Bus - Western
  • MA, Pennsylvania
  • PhD, Pennsylvania
  • Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA)

Recent Refereed Articles

  • Dang, C. D.; Foerster, S. R.; Li, Z. F.; Tang, Z., 2021, "Analyst Talent, Information, and Insider Trading", Journal of Corporate Finance, April 67
  • Foerster, S. R.; Linnainmaa, J.; Melzer, B.; Previtero, A., 2017, "Retail Financial Advice: Does One Size Fit All?", Journal of Finance, August 72(4): 1441 - 1482.
  • Foerster, S. R.; Tsagarelis, J.; Wang, G., 2017, "Are Cash Flows Better Stock Return Predictors Than Profits?", Financial Analysts Journal, February 73(1): 73 - 99.
  • Foerster, S. R.; Sapp, S.; Shi, Y. N., 2014, "The Effect of Voluntary Disclosure on Firm Risk and Firm Value: Evidence from Management Earnings Forecasts", Advances in Quantitative Analysis of Finance and Accounting, October 12: 179 - 213.
  • Foerster, S. R.; Fogler, L.; Sapp, S., 2014, "Northern Exposure: How Canadian Micro-Cap Stock Investments Can Benefit Investors", Journal of Investment Consulting, August 15(1): 36 - 50.
  • Foerster, S. R.; Sapp, S., 2011, "Back to Fundamentals: The Role of Expected Cash Flows in Equity Valuation", North American Journal of Economics and Finance, December 22(3): 320 - 343.
  • Foerster, S. R., 2011, "Double Then Nothing: Why Stock Investments Relying on Simple Heuristics May Disappoint", Review of Behavioral Finance, November 3(2): 115 - 140.
  • Brown, J.; Crocker, D.; Foerster, S. R., 2009, "Trading Volume and Stock Investments", Financial Analysts Journal, April 65(2): 67 - 84.
  • Dunbar, C. G.; Foerster, S. R., 2008, "Second Time Lucky? Withdrawn IPOs that Return to the Market", Journal of Financial Economics, March 87(3): 610 - 635.
  • Foerster, S. R.; Sapp, S., 2006, "The Changing Role of Dividends: A Firm-Level Study From the Nineteenth to the Twenty-First Century", Canadian Journal of Economics, November 39(4): 1316 - 1344.
  • Foerster, S. R.; Sapp, S., 2005, "The Dividend Discount Model in the Long-Run: A Clinical Study", Journal of Applied Finance, October 15(2): 55 - 75.
  • Foerster, S. R.; Sapp, S., 2005, "Valuation of Financial Versus Non-Financial Firms: A Global Perspective", Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions & Money, January 15(1): 1 - 20.
  • Foerster, S. R.; Sapp, S., 2003, "How Do Interest Rate Changes Affect Equities?", Canadian Investment Review, January 16(1): 26 - 34.
  • Foerster, S. R.; Karolyi, G. A., 2000, "The Long Run Performance of Global Equity Offerings", Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, January 35(4): 499 - 528.
  • Foerster, S. R.; Karolyi, G. A., 1999, "The Effects of Market Segmentation and Investor Recognition on Asset Prices: Evidence From Foreign Stock Listings in the United States", Journal of Finance, January 54(3): 981 - 1013.

For more publications please see our Research Database

Honours & Awards

  • Ivey’s “Best Selling Cases” Award, “Time Value of Money: The Buy Versus Rent Decision” (S. Cleary and S. Foerster), 2018-19 and 2019-20
  • 2017 Amundi Smith Breeden Prize Distinguished Paper “Retail Financial Advice: Does One Size Fit All?” (Stephen Foerster, Juhani Linnainmaa, Brian Melzer, Alessandro Previtero)
  • Dean Stephenson Excellence in EMBA Teaching Award, Spring 2010, Fall 2010, Spring 2011, Agricultural Bank of China Class 2011, Fall 2016
  • 2015 CFA Society Toronto & Hillside Canadian Investment Research Award, “Retail Financial Advice: Does One Size Fit All?” (S. Foerster, J. Linnainmaa, B. Melzer, A. Previtero)
  • Ivey Teaching Innovation Award, MBA Program, 2007
  • Alternative Investment Management Association of Canada 2006 Research Award, “What Drives Equity Market Neutral Hedge Fund Returns?”
  • Northern Finance Association 2005 Best Paper in Valuation Award, “Dividends and Stock Valuation: A Study From the Nineteenth to the Twenty-First Century” (S. Foerster, S Sapp)
  • Journal of Financial Economics “All Star Paper” Award "Finite Sample Properties of Generalized Methods of Moments in Tests of Conditional Asset Pricing Models" (W. Ferson and S. Foerster), The Journal of Financial Economics 36, August (1994)
  • Northern Finance Association 2002 Best Paper in Financial Markets Award, “Second Time Lucky? Underwriting Switching and the Performance of Withdrawn IPOs that Return to the Market” (C. Dunbar and S. Foerster)
  • 2000 William F. Sharpe Award for Scholarship in Financial Research, Best Paper in The Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, "The Long-Run Performance of Global Equity Offerings" (S. Foerster and A. Karolyi)

Experience

  • Previous Teaching: The Wharton School (1984-86)
  • Western Pension Plan: Joint Pension Board Member (2008-present)
  • Foundation Western (Endowment): Director and Investment Committee Member, Chair (1995-2007)
  • Tremont Capital Opportunity Trust: Advisory Board (2003-2007)
  • Northwest Mutual Fund: Advisory Board (2001-2003)
  • Management Consultant
  • Expert Witness: Federal Court qualified to opine on investment management and strategies, investment evaluation, portfolio management, corporate finance (managing financial resources), the evaluation of time value of money, the evaluation of interest rates and the evaluation of economic and financial data to determine the lost opportunity cost related to the deprivation from the ability to use funds.

Research/Course Development

  • Portfolio Management
  • Stock Investments
  • Behavioural Finance
  • Wealth Management
  • Initial Public Offerings

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