Xuemin (Sterling) Yan

Dr. Yan is a Perella Chair and Professor of Finance at Lehigh University. He obtained a B.A. in finance from Renmin University of China in 1991 and a Ph.D. in finance from the University of Iowa in 2001. Before joining Lehigh University in 2019, Dr. Yan spent 18 years at the University of Missouri, as an assistant, associate, and full professor of finance. He was the Richard G. Miller Professor of Finance from 2008 to 2019. Dr. Yan’s main research interests include asset pricing, institutional investors, mutual funds, hedge funds, short selling, and liquidity. Dr. Yan has published extensively in top academic journals including the Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, Review of Financial Studies, Management Science, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, and Journal of Accounting Research. He is an associate editor of the Journal of Financial Research and the Asia-Pacific Journal of Financial Studies. Dr. Yan’s research has been cited in Business Week, The Economist, Financial Times, and The Wall Street Journal.

Education

• Renmin University of China, B.A. in Finance
• University of Iowa, Ph.D. in Finance

Research Interests

• Asset Pricing
• Institutional Investors
• Mutual Funds and Hedge Funds
• Short Selling
• Liquidity

• Machine Learning in the Cross-Section of Stock Returns: Evidence from a “Universe” of Return Signals, (with Bin Li, Alberto Rossi, and Lingling Zheng), forthcoming in Journal of Financial Economics.
• Institutional Trading, News, and Stock Market Anomalies, (with Feifei Wang and Lingling Zheng), Journal of Accounting and Economics 78, 2024, 101686.
• Do Sophisticated Investors Follow Fundamental Analysis Strategies? Evidence from Hedge Funds and Mutual Funds (with Feifei Wang and Lingling Zheng), Review of Accounting Studies 29, 2024, 1097-1146.
• Financial Industry Affiliation and Hedge Fund Performance, (with Lingling Zheng), Management Science 67, 2021, 7844-7865.
• On the Performance of Volatility Managed Portfolios (with Scott Cederburg, Mike O’Doherty and Feifei Wang), Journal of Financial Economics 138, 2020, 95‐117.
• Shorting Flows, Public Disclosure, and Market Efficiency, (with Xue Wang and Lingling Zheng) Journal of Financial Economics 135, 2020, 191‐212.
• Nikolic, B., and X. Yan, Investor Overconfidence, Firm Valuation, and Corporate Decisions, Management Science 64, 2018, 5349-5369.
• Yan, X., and L. Zheng, Fundamental Analysis and the Cross-section of Stock Returns: A Data-mining Approach, Review of Financial Studies 30, 2017, 1382-1423.
• Brockman, P., B. Nikolic, and X. Yan, Anticipating the 2007-2008 Financial Crisis: Who Knew What and When Did They Know It? Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis 50, 2015, 647-669.
• Hao, Q., and X. Yan, The Performance of Investment Bank Affiliated Mutual Funds: Conflicts of Interest or Informational Advantage? Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis 47, 2012, 537-565.
• Puckett, A., and X. Yan, The Interim Trading Skills of Institutional Investors, Journal of Finance 66, 2011, 601-633.
• Brockman, P., D. Chung, and X. Yan, Block Ownership, Trading Activity, and Market Liquidity, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis 44, 2009, 1403-1426.
• Howe, J., E. Unlu, and X. Yan, The Predictive Content of Aggregate Analyst Recommendations, Journal of Accounting Research 47, 2009, 799-821.
• Yan, X., and Z. Zhang, Institutional Investors and Equity Returns: Are Short-term Institutions Better Informed? Review of Financial Studies 22, 2009, 893-924.
• Yan, X., Liquidity, Investment Style, and the Relation between Fund Size and Fund Performance, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis 43, 2008, 741-768.
• Bali, T., N. Cakici, X. Yan, and Z. Zhang, Does Idiosyncratic Risk Really Matter? Journal of Finance 60, 2005, 905-929.