The Performance of Growth Stocks and Value Stocks in the Pacific Basin

Abstract

Many studies show that value stock strategies outperform growth stock strategies in U.S. markets and in international markets. However, the evidence is not clear as growth stocks have had higher returns in a few countries. Because the behavior of stock markets vary between different geographic regions, it is possible that the performance of these strategies may differ in the Pacific Rim region. We examine the performance of value stocks and growth stocks, defined on the basis of market price to book value per share, over the 10-year period 1986-1996, for six Pacific Rim countries. Based on over 11,900 annual stock returns, value stocks generally outperformed growth stocks over the 10-year period, and in the various Pacific Rim country stock markets. In addition, smaller cap stocks outperformed large cap stocks. Regardless of cap size, however, value stocks, on the whole, outperformed growth stocks. When growth stocks occasionally outperformed value stocks, the margin of difference tended to be small.