Stock options plans: uma ferramenta de geração de valor? Um estudo de eventos para as empresas negociadas na BOVESPA

Abstract

Employee Stock Options Plans (ESOP), granted by companies to their employees, especially to top level executives, are probably one of the most discussed tools of compensation. This empirical study aimed to check the informational content of ESOP events in Brazilian capital market. The study performed an event study covering the abnormal return of 39 stocks around announcements of adoption of plan, options grants, options exercise and stocks sales of the disclosed information from June of 1994 to March of 2007. A descriptive analysis of the companies plans was done in order to verify that there was a possibility of granting options to all employees or only to key employees of the company. The announcement of the adoption of the stock option plans indicates an informational content. The cumulative abnormal returns before and after this event are statistically different for the portfolio of companiess stocks that possibility granting options to all employees. In addition, the returns of the first distribution (before event) are less than the second returns. Other events (options grants, options exercise and stocks sales) showed no consistent result about the generation of value for the shareholder. So, the results were not conclusive regarding the generation of value for the shareholders when the occurrence of ESOP event. Meanwhile, the findings indicate differences in the informational content transmitted to the market concerned of the eligible beneficiaries for the plans and the type of ESOP event.