This study examines the impact of financial statements on the prices of companies traded in the Brazilian market and aims to verify how the returns of different - common and preferred capital - types of stock, react to the disclosure of annual financial results. Hence, the methodology used by Ball and Brown (1968) was applied to two groups: the first, made up by common stock, and the second by preferred capital stock. The samples were built on the basis of data for companies traded in the São Paulo Stock Exchange (BOVESPA), considering the period from 1990 to 2002. Evidence indicates that variations in the price of preferred capital stock are in accordance with disclosed results, which confirms the hypothesis about the relevance of accounting information for investors. On the other hand, what common stock is concerned, the hypothesis was partially confirmed, since only the portfolio with negative results followed the same direction as the disclosed results.
Accounting Relevance; Relation between Accounting Profit and Stock Price; Stock Types; Information Capacity; Event Study
