http://hdl.handle.net/11531/110 2026-06-08T18:28:22Z 2026-06-08T18:28:22Z Guerra Ruiz de Alegría, Catalina http://hdl.handle.net/11531/110528 2026-06-05T10:32:18Z 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z

Título : Share price reactions to M&A announcements: An empirical analysis of CaixaBank’s acquisition of Bankia Autor : Guerra Ruiz de Alegría, Catalina Resumen : This paper examines the reaction of stock prices to the announcement of CaixaBank’s acquisition of Bankia, a major consolidation in the Spanish banking sector completed in 2021. The deal aimed to strengthen CaixaBank’s market position, increase operational efficiency, and generate significant cost synergies. This dissertation explores the strategic motivations behind the acquisition and analyses its implications for market participants, focusing on whether the announcement generated value for shareholders. The core of the study is a short-term event analysis, assessing the abnormal returns of both CaixaBank and Bankia using a (-3, 0, +3) event window surrounding the announcement date. Based on the market model, the study calculates abnormal returns, t-statistics, and Patell z-statistics to determine the statistical significance of market reactions. The results show that Bankia experienced a large and statistically significant positive abnormal return on the day following the announcement, confirming expectations from existing literature that target firms tend to benefit from acquisition premiums and perceived synergies. CaixaBank, the acquiring firm, also registered a positive abnormal return the day after the announcement, although its cumulative return across the event window was not statistically significant. This reflects a mixed but broadly positive market sentiment toward the deal. To complement the short-term perspective, a long-term performance analysis compares CaixaBank’s post-merger share price evolution, with its main Spanish banking peers over a three-year period. By indexing share prices to a base of 100, the analysis shows that CaixaBank’s performance was steady but not exceptional, aligning with the market trend but getting behind of competitors like BBVA or Sabadell. These findings suggest that while the acquisition was positively received in the short term, especially for Bankia, the long-term impact on CaixaBank’s market valuation was moderate, showing that long-term value creation depends heavily on post-merger execution. Descripción : Grado en Administración y Dirección de Empresas Mención Internacional (E-4)

2025-01-01T00:00:00Z Lalaguna Escribano, Mencía http://hdl.handle.net/11531/110511 2026-06-05T10:25:06Z 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z

Título : Companies that pay regular dividends experience less stock price volatility compared to companies that prioritize growth through acquisitions or reinvest all profits Autor : Lalaguna Escribano, Mencía Resumen : This dissertation examines whether companies that pay consistent dividends exhibit lower stock price volatility than companies that reinvest their profits back into the business. To carry out the analysis, I consulted existing literature that covers this topic, focusing on historical stock price movements of both groups. While the literature review helped contextualize the hypothesis in a qualitative way, the topic was reinforced by a quantitative analysis. The qualitative background included some of the most debated theories on dividend policies such as the Bird-in-Hand Theory by Gordon and Lintner (1962), and the Dividend Irrelevance Theory by Miller and Modigliani (1961). Furthermore, the quantitative analysis was made by screening companies that followed certain criteria: European and North American companies, middle-small capitalization public companies and comprised in a time frame of the last five years. To divide the companies into the subcategories, I filtered using tools such as Bloomberg and Koyfin Pro, that allowed to categorize whether a company consistently paid dividends or retained the earnings for reinvestment. These platforms also provided the metrics I was later going to analyze and compare: beta, standard deviation and total return (CAGR). These metrics were chosen because together they offer a complete view of a stock’s risk profile, market sensitivity, and long-term performance, making them very effective and relevant variables to analyze the impact of dividend policy on the stock´s behavior. The findings of the analysis supported most of the literature reviewed, reinforcing the proposed hypothesis. Dividend-paying companies showcased lower volatility in comparison to the non-dividend paying companies. While some values might had been affected by outliers that couldn´t be excluded due to technical limitations, the overall results exposed higher stock price volatility in companies that reinvested the profits back into the company. The main challenges faced were the lack of existing literature on stock price volatility for companies that reinvest their profits into the business instead of paying dividends, the impossibility of downloading all the data from Koyfin Pro to Excel or any other spreadsheet platform, and the limited familiarity with certain advanced features of Bloomberg and Koyfin, which may have restricted the depth of the analysis but did not compromise the reliability or relevance of the analysis carried out. The whole analysis in this dissertation helps to understand how these two strategies can influence stock behavior. It shows that companies that pay dividends usually have more stable stock prices and more consistent returns, which is useful for investors looking for low risk portfolios while having significant returns. For companies, it suggests that choosing whether or not to pay dividends can affect how their stock is perceived in the market and how it performs in the long term. Personally, I believe that future research could look more in depth at companies that don’t pay dividends, as this area still remains quite unexplored. Descripción : Grado en Administración y Dirección de Empresas Mención Internacional (E-4)

2025-01-01T00:00:00Z Lis Pintado, Javier http://hdl.handle.net/11531/110496 2026-06-05T10:15:41Z 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z

Título : An evaluation of the Effectiveness of Automated Valuation methods (AVMs) versus Traditional Valuation Methods in Residential Real Estate : A Comparative Analysis of Predictive Accuracy and Price reflecting Efficiency in recent property transactions Autor : Lis Pintado, Javier Resumen : This academic paper evaluates the effectiveness of both traditional valuation approaches and Automated valuation Models in the context of predictive accuracy and price reflecting efficiency by analysing closed transactions in the residential real estate industry. The study addresses a central research question: “Does valuation represent a good proxy of real market price, which reflects all available information?”. To answer this question, a comparative analysis will be performed between traditional methods and AVMs to establish which od the two is more accurate hen determining value. The research begins by reviewing the traditional valuations methods; the income and sales comparison approaches, highlighting their reliance on historical data, human expertise and subjective assumptions. It then continues by observing the recent rise of AVMs, pushed by continues technological advancements related with AI and machine learning. Furthermore, introduces a hedonic price regression model to assess the price reflecting efficiency as a more data-driven approach traditional method. To carry out all the valuations, a dataset of 400 sold properties in the city of Indianapolis (USA) was extracted form Zillow. Data was organised, cleaned and interpreted to apply the income method and sales comparison approaches. Consequently, with the use of this data a hedonic model was built in python through Google Collab. Lastly, Zillow´s Zestimate, one of the most reputed AVMs in the industry, was used for the comparative analysis. Results showed how major discrepancies arise between methods. Traditional approaches obtained MAPEs of 16.41% for the income method and 18.14% for the sales comparison. Even though results aligned with industry benchmarks, they reflected limited predictive accuracy. The hedonic price regression model yielded an R-squared of 0.728, meaning that the model explained over 73% of the price variations according to the imputed variables. This reflected the importance of including as many price determinants as possible to perform valuations. On the other hand, Zillow´s Zestimate obtained a MAPE of 2.58% showing is robustness when reflecting prices and performing accurate valuations. The study concluded that whilst traditional methods remain important in many scenarios, they are quickly being surpassed by AVMs. However, due to the issues related with this data driven approaches, there is an urge to develop hybrid models which incorporate the strengths of both approaches and calls for further technological advancements so AVMs can incorporate property specific traits and ensure ethical standards and transparent procedures. Descripción : Grado en Administración y Dirección de Empresas Mención Internacional (E-4)

2025-01-01T00:00:00Z Gómez Moreno, Eugenia http://hdl.handle.net/11531/110492 2026-06-05T09:52:36Z 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z

Título : Proposal of a Comprehensive Restructuring Plan for Sustainable Development in Honduras. Focus on Political and Economic Aspects Autor : Gómez Moreno, Eugenia Resumen : This dissertation explores the structural challenges Honduras is facing, a nation rich in cultural heritage and natural resources, yet hindered by persistent poverty, political instability, and economic vulnerability. Through a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods – including a PESTLE analysis, macroeconomic indicator reviews, and interviews – this study evaluates the historical development of the reasons behind identifies the primary obstacles to sustainable development: high crime rates, escalating national debt, and widespread extreme poverty. A comparative case study approach was employed, analysing countries that have successfully navigated similar challenges (Colombia, El Salvador, and Rwanda), to extract relevant lessons and adaptable strategies. The findings highlight the critical importance of comprehensive reforms across governance, fiscal policy, and social systems. Based on these insights, the dissertation proposes a restructuring plan presented in a series of targeted recommendations to foster economic diversification, institutional strengthening, and social inclusion, with the aim of enabling Honduras to pursue a more sustainable and inclusive development path that will hopefully aid the government to handle the situation in the best way possible. This dissertation has a personal meaning to me, as I have been lucky enough to live like locals do for a whole summer, I have talked, cohabited, laughed and share lots of memorable times with them; they are my friends, and they need our help. Descripción : Grado en Administración y Dirección de Empresas Mención Internacional (E-4)

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