The Institute of Finance at PUEB is pleased to announce the 6th Online Seminar in Finance.
Speaker: Kuntara Pukthuanthong (University of Missouri) and Tomasz Kaczmarek (Poznan University of Economics and Business)
Date: March 24th, 2023, 15:00 (Warsaw time)
Title: Just Look: Knowing Peers with Image Representation
Abstract: We introduce a new measure of firms' similarity. Using two million photographs, we apply machine learning techniques to identify graphical objects that best characterize companies' businesses and use them to create image industry classifications (IIC). We show that, in the age of unquestionable popularity of the image as a means of business communication, our new measure of similarity is linked to how investors define peers. Just as the human brain processes pictures better than numbers and text, IIC provides the highest diversification benefits and industry momentum profits to the portfolios among industry classifications based on SIC, GICS, NAICS, and text similarity. Our image classifications (IIC) perform well with industries whose value is driven by expectation, growth, and intangibility. The agreement within (across) an image-classified industry is highest (lowest), generating the highest impact of aggregated demand and supply on the stock price. This explains why IIC performs well in diversification and industry momentum strategies.
Speakers' bios:
Kuntara Pukthuanthong graduated with a BS in economics from Chulalongkorn University and MBA in finance from Washington University. She has a Ph.D. in finance from the University of California, Irvine. During her Ph.D., she was a research assistant at PIMCO, Newport Beach, CA. She got tenure at San Diego State University. During her term at SDSU, she was a Lamfalussy Fellow at the European Central Bank. She was a Professor-in-Residence and consultant at Research Affiliates, Newport Beach, CA, and a consultant at Flintrock Global Investor and Denali Advisors in San Diego. Recently, she worked for the AXA Rosenberg in Santa Monica, CA, on a project related to her paper, A Protocol for Factor Identification. She has published in Journal of Financial Economics, Review of Financial Studies, Review of Asset Pricing Studies, and others. She is a member of the program committee of FutFin.Info based in Stockholm, Sweden, and an Associate Editor of International Review of Financial Analysis.
Tomasz Kaczmarek conducts research in empirical asset pricing and risk management. He specializes in the use of AI in investment decision-making. Tomasz graduated with a MA in economics from Poznan University of Economics and Business, where he is also finishing a 4-year Ph.D. program on the topic "The Role of Predictions from Machine Learning in Portfolio Construction." He is currently a visiting scholar at the Trulaske College of Business, University of Missouri. He is a Certified Polish Investment Advisor and CFA charterholder. Professionally is a strategist, portfolio manager, and capital markets analyst with 20 years of experience in finance. He co-founded Starfunds – a fintech, independent fund distributor offering robo-advisory. Earlier, he worked in Santander Brokerage House Poland in many positions, including Chief Innovation and Product Officer, Chairman of the Investment Committee, Portfolio Manager, and Equity Research Analyst.
To register, please click here: https://forms.gle/4gzuz5VME9S9NNr47*
Registration deadline: March 22nd, 20:00 (Warsaw time). The invitation to the Teams webinar will be sent on March 23rd.
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