Consumer attention and company performance: Evidence from luxury companies

Previous research has shown that investor attention, measured by Google searches for company tickers, can predict companies’ returns. However, for companies offering luxury goods in consumer-driven industries, consumer attention might be even more important. Therefore, for each company in the S&P Global Luxury Index we construct a measure of consumer attention based on Google searches for brands related to each company. Our findings suggest that consumer attention predicts the stock returns of these companies to a greater degree than investor attention. The economic significance of these findings is demonstrated by highly profitable trading strategies.publishedVersio