Media Coverage and the Swedish IPO Market: A Study on Media Coverage and IPO Underpricing in Sweden

Abstract: Using Swedish IPO market data, we analyze how pre-IPO media coverage is associated with the first-day returns for firms going public. We apply a multiple linear regression model to a sample of 266 unique issuers between the period 2010 and 2021. We find that higher media coverage, on average, is associated with higher first-day returns. The results are significant at the 1% level and robust to a multitude of additional tests. Similarly, we find evidence suggesting a positive relationship between purchase recommendations and first-day returns.