Adriano Salerno

My research primarily examines the capital market implications of unconventional information sources and non-traditional disclosure topics, with a particular emphasis on the informational role of payout policy guidance. My dissertation sheds light on managers' investor relations strategies to engage targeted retail investor groups, leveraging a unique setting involving retail dividend investors.
 

JOB MARKET PAPER

Stock Screeners and Managers’ Voluntary Disclosure: Evidence from Retail Dividend Investors

I examine whether managers adjust voluntary disclosure choices in response to firms’ inclusion in stock screeners (i.e., digital tools used by retail investors to filter securities). While retail investors are increasingly important in capital markets, managers face significant challenges in engaging their desired retail investors’ base due to retail investors’ awareness costs. The inclusion in popular stock screeners can alleviate this engagement friction by increasing the likelihood that retail investors will process the firm’s disclosure. I exploit the launch and subsequent expansion of the first freely accessible and highly influential dividend stock screener for retail dividend investors in 2010. I find that newly included managers increase dividend guidance. Additionally, retail investors’ trading activity increases, and the market reacts more strongly to dividend guidance announcements. Taken together, these findings suggest that firms’ inclusion in popular stock screeners influences managerial voluntary disclosure and has economic implications for how the market responds to such disclosure. 
 

WORKING PAPERS

• Kaplan, Z., Salerno, A., Vollon, L., & Wu, X. (2024). Commitment through Forecasting: Managerial Buyback Guidance and Payout Policy. Available at SSRN.
• Martens, T., & Salerno, A. (2025). Payout Policy, Innovation Value and Investors' Beliefs. Available at SSRN.
• Kaplan, Z., Salerno, A., Vollon, L., & Wu, X. (2025). Dividend Guidance. Work in Progress.
• Marra A., Salerno A., & Shalev R. (2025). Third-Party Quality Assurance and Managers’ Voluntary Disclosure: Evidence from Michelin Stars. Work in Progress.