Changes to the trading calendar and the day of the week effect in returns and volatility of the Saudi Stock Exchange

Using quarterly data from 2010 to 2019, this paper investigates the impact of listing status on the performance of the National Commercial Bank (NCB), the largest commercial bank in Saudi Arabia, by applying a combination of financial ratios analysis and efficient frontier analysis with a mix of parametric and non-parametric tests. The overall results show that although the NCB performance is superior compared to their counterparts, this superiority has deteriorated after the bank was listed in 2014. This result was captured by the deterioration in the efficiency measures of NCB, indicating the significance of using the efficient frontier analysis as an additional monitoring tool by the Saudi regulators. The financial ratios analysis also shows that even though the NCB profitability has increased, there is an increase in the bank’s overall risk after being listed. Therefore, Saudi regulators should closely monitor their listed banks as these banks are directed toward high-risk assets.

The study examines the influence of the cash conversion cycle (one of the components of working capital) on the firm profitability measured in terms of return on equity (ROE), return on assets (ROA), Tobin’s q, and gross operating profit (GROP) in the manufacturing sector of Saudi Arabia. The study selects a sample of 100 companies from nine industrial sectors listed on the Tadawul Stock Exchange starting from 2008 to 2019. A pooled regression is estimated to report the empirical results. The results report a positive and significant association between the components of working capital in terms of cash conversion cycle and the firm profitability in terms of ROA, ROE, and Tobin’s q, except for the GROP, where there is a negative and significant relationship. The study reports that the growth in firm performance is associated with supplier’s financing terms and inventory ordering cost. The results also show that larger firms are more profitable than smaller firms. Hence, the current study confirms the formulated hypothesis of having a significant association between the components of working capital and firm profitability.

The Saudi Arabia Stock Exchange (Tadawul) is one of the biggest emerging Stock Exchanges in the Middle East region. Therefore, this research aims to apply Fama and French (2015) 5-factor model on Tadawul, and compares it with the Fama and French 3-factor model and CAPM to check the applicability of the models in Tadawul and the identity of the factors that can affect stock returns. Furthermore, the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) regression has been implemented to examine the impact between the variables in the models. Empirically, the results show that Fama and French (2015) 5-factor model is the most consistent model in comparison to the other two models in terms of explaining the cross-section of average stock returns in Tadawul. However, it is not the best according to the intercepts results of all the regressions in 2x3, 2x2, or 2x2x2x2 sorts. Besides, Fama and French (2015) 5-factor model has the highest explanatory power in most of the portfolios based on the adjusted R2 regardless of the sort (2x3, 2x2, or 2x2x2x2). Finally, the results conclude that Fama and French (2015) 5-factor model can be an applicable model in Tadawul but only market and size can affect the stock returns, while the value, profitability, and investment cannot. Accordingly, the author recommends that, as a continuation of this research, further research can be done, which investigates a model with additional factors like momentum and illiquidity.