The relevance of the capital structure in firm performance: a multivariate analysis of Brazilian publicly traded companies

The economic changes in recent years have made the dynamics of the Brazilian market more complex, which directly impacts the administration of large organizations, particularly in management tasks, such as decisions concerning the definition of the capital structure. The literature in this theoretical field is polarized in two seminal works: the first, by Durand (1952, 1959), discusses the existence of an optimal capital structure that maximizes the value of the firm; and, at the other end, the work by Modigliani and Miller (1958, 1963) considers that it is irrelevant how firms are financed. In this sense, the objective was to verify the effective interference of the capital structure in the performance of Brazilian firms listed on BM&FBOVESPA. The sample consisted of cross-sectional data that were selected from the most recent balance sheets of all companies listed on BM&FBOVESPA, available in the Economática® database. The techniques used were the analysis of variance (ANOVA) and discriminant analysis. Among the indicators used, it was observed that only general liquidity, the degree of immobilization, Tobin’s Q, and the opportunity for growth were significant at 1%. The results indicate that the capital structure is not directly related to the performance of Brazilian companies listed on BM&FBOVESPA. In the meantime, the results point to the consolidation of the financial theories expounded by Modigliani and Miller (1958, 1963), as opposed to the traditionalist current started in Durand’s studies (1952)