How stocks move after “reverse stock split” headlines
Reverse split announcements, usually to keep a listing. Every single-ticker headline on the Quantisnow wire containing “reverse stock split” in the last 12 months, measured to the next close.
Free examples:FDA approvalpublic offeringbuybackreverse stock splitupgradeddowngradedPhase 3partnership
After 345 headlines containing “reverse stock split” (343 distinct stock-sessions), the stock moved -14.73% on average by the next close (median -14.87%), and closed higher 13% of the time.
Average move
-14.73%
Next close vs prior close
Median move
-14.87%
Closed higher
13%
Share of stock-sessions
Avg absolute move
17.28%
Volatility around the headline
Sample
343
Stock-sessions from 345 headlines
Average vs SPY
-14.78%
Move minus SPY same session
5-session average
-20.52%
Median -23.82%, 333 headlines
How often it shows up
Per day
0.95
Per month
28.8
Per year
346
Distribution of next-close moves
- Below -10%61%
- -10% to -5%13%
- -5% to -2%6%
- -2% to 0%4%
- 0% to +2%6%
- +2% to +5%2%
- +5% to +10%3%
- Above +10%4%
Recent headlines
Methodology
- Headlines: every press release, analyst rating and news item tagged to exactly one listed company on the Quantisnow wire in the last 12 months. SEC filing notices and multi-company items are left out.
- Matching: the keyword must appear in the headline as a phrase, case-insensitive, starting at a word boundary. Words under three letters and very common words (the, of, for) only count inside a longer phrase.
- Move: the closing price of the first regular session that closed after the headline hit the wire, against the prior session's close. A pre-market headline is measured on that day, one after 4pm ET on the next session. The 5-session move uses the close four sessions later against the same base.
- Prices: daily consolidated (SIP) bars adjusted for splits and spin-offs. Moves beyond +/-300% are dropped as bad prints. Dividends are not included. A move reflects everything that happened that session, not just the headline.
- Several matching headlines on the same stock before the same close (a proposed offering and its pricing, say) count as one stock-session in the move statistics. Frequency counts every headline, over the days the dataset covers.