Stock Valuation and Behavioural Heterogeneity in Tehran Stock Exchange

Abstract

This paper investigates stock valuation in Tehran Stock Exchange with regard to behavioral heterogeneity and bounded rational behavior of agents. The related information of the fundamental factors are disseminated and become available for the public, and investors assess the stock with different models, for example Gordon model. However, because of different expectations of investors, the amount of deviation from the fundamental value and the lengthiness of this deviation are viewed important. In this study, behavior of two groups of investors is examined. First, the fundamentalists who believe in movement of stock prices toward the fundamental value. Second, the chartists who think stock prices should be different from the fundamental value. Results by monthly data show that investors switch between different strategies and sometimes the chartists force the fundamentalists to change their strategies and coexist with them.

Keywords

• heterogeneity theory
• agency theory
• stock valuation
• behavioral finance