Wasfi Al Salamat

The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of a firm’s size, asset growth, asset tangibility, and financial leverage on profitability for all listed corporate firms in Jordan using unbalanced panel data (time series and cross-sectional) regression analysis for a sample of 1,663 observations over the period from 2011 to 2018. The overall results show a significant positive effect of a firm’s size and asset growth on profitability. However, asset tangibility presents a significant negative effect on profitability, while financial leverage has an insignificant positive effect on profitability. An analysis of each of the main sectors also point to a consistently positive effect of a firm’s size on profitability, while the results for growth in assets and financial leverage are nearly consistent with overall findings, but not those for asset tangibility. Furthermore, the sub-sample industry analysis reveals mixed results due to the different industry shapes and structures. This study is expected to be of value to firm managers, investors, researchers, and regulators.

Internal (firm-specific) and external (macroeconomic) determinants of stock price fluctuations are vital for investors seeking to invest their money in a firm’s stocks. Thus, the main aim of this study is to explore macroeconomic and firm-specific factors that influence stock price fluctuations for all conventional banks in Jordan in 2010–2019. Ordinary least squares multiple regression (panel data) is applied for data analysis. The results report that trading volume (TV), dividend yield (DY), and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) have a positive effect on stock price volatility, while stock price volatility is statistically negatively affected by return on assets (ROA), dividend payout ratio (DPR), and price-earnings ratio (PE). On the other hand, money supply (MS) does not affect stock price volatility. Paying more dividends can reduce stock risk and, in turn, reduce stock price volatility. The findings can benefit current and potential investors, firm managers, brokers, dealers, portfolio managers, regulatory bodies, policy makers, and researchers.