TY - JOUR T1 - Corporate Long-Range Quantitative Goals: <em>Profit or Growth?</em> JF - The Journal of Wealth Management SP - 75 LP - 88 DO - 10.3905/jwm.2009.12.1.075 VL - 12 IS - 1 AU - Joseph Aharony AU - Eli Noy Y1 - 2009/04/30 UR - https://pm-research.com/content/12/1/75.abstract N2 - This article examines two important aspects that private wealth management firms should contemplate when making strategic investment decisions in corporate equity: pursuing firms whose long-range strategic quantitative goals center on profits or those that center on growth. To this end, the authors investigate four specific corporate strategic behavior questions: whether firms explicitly state long-range quantitative goals (LRQG), whether they use growth and profit as their long-range quantitative goals, whether these two goals are equally important, and finally, whether, in the long run, firms with explicitly stated LRQG outperform those without such goals. The study examines these issues empirically based on content analysis of publicly available documents from the Standard &amp; Poor’s 500 Index as of August 2001 and Compustat data. The results show that most firms do have long-range quantitative goals expressed by profit and growth targets, mostly in accounting terms, and that growth goals are more important to corporate managers than profit goals. This evidence provides private wealth management firms with important insight for making strategic investment decisions in corporate equity. Recommendations for corporate managers, private wealth management firms, and academicians complement the findings.TOPICS: Wealth management, statistical methods, performance measurement ER -