Company Events & EarningsExtended setexperimental liveNew

Activist Pair Revert

Updated eventData needs: mediumlong onlyshort onlylong short

2008

Brav & Jiang (2008) "Hedge Fund Activism, Corporate Governance, and Firm Performance", Journal of Finance 63(4).

In plain terms

Activist-targeted stocks beat their sector for ~12 months, then give some back as the activist exits — we ride both legs as a pair-trade.

How it works

Activist 13D targets outperform their industry peer (sector-ETF proxy) by ~7-10% over the first 12 months post-filing; a portion of the spread reverts in months 13-24 as the activist exits and gains are priced in. Pair-trade overlay: target LONG during drift, target SHORT during revert, gated on prior sector-relative underperformance.

Live results

0 times picked on its own · 54 times inside a blend (50 beat the stock) · updated 2026-06-06

This strategy is a frequent ingredient in blends that combine a few strategies on one stock. It has contributed to 54 such blended picks (50 of which beat simply holding the stock). Picking it on its own is only one of the ways it shows up.

How its picks scored vs. buy & hold

Each pick is graded on a recent year it was never tuned on, against simply owning the same stock

Where its edge concentrates

Share of picks in each company-size group that beat buy & hold

How often it trades

Active vs. patient. Bars on the left mean it waits for rare setups; bars on the right mean it trades often

Return vs. buy & hold

How much each pick beat or trailed simply owning the stock over the test year (extreme microcap moves trimmed)

Loading substrate evidence…

Data dependencies

Daily prices
Adjusted-close OHLCV for every US-listed ticker; primary price feed.
SEC 13d filings
A data feed this strategy reads, refreshed on its normal schedule.
Sector ETF prices
A data feed this strategy reads, refreshed on its normal schedule.

Expected edge

Reported return: ~7-10% target-vs-sector over 12mo + revert
Tested over: T+30 to T+720d

Brav-Jiang 2008 reports ~7-10% target-vs-sector outperformance over 12mo with partial revert in months 13-24.

Related families

13d Activist Filing DriftCompany Events & Earnings

Activist 13D filing → +12% over 2 years.

Multiple Activist Pile On LongCompany Events & Earnings

When 2+ different activists file 13D on the same stock within 60 days, the pile-on signal is stronger than a single activist alone.

G13 To D13 Conversion LongCompany Events & Earnings

When a previously-quiet large shareholder switches to declaring activist intent on a stock, the stock tends to outperform for the next 12 months.

Explore Activist Pair Revert on alphactor.ai

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