The "CalPERS Effect" on Targeted Company Shares Prices (PDF, 1.03 MB)
by Andrew Junkin, CFA, CIMA, CALA, Managing Director and Thomas Toth, CFA, Vice President; Wilshire Associates Incorporated; July 31st, 2008

The study examined the performance of 134 companies targeted by CalPERS Focus List from beginning of 1987 through the fall of 2006. According to the study, "For the five years prior to the "initiative date", the Focus List companies produced returns that averaged 82.2% below their respective benchmarks on a cumulative basis, which is equivalent to an excess return of -12.7% per year on an annualized basis. For the first five years after the "initiative date," the average targeted company produced excess returns of 15.7% above their respective benchmark return on a cumulative basis, or 3.14% per year on an annualized basis."

Good corporate governance works: More evidence from CalPERS (PDF, 1.4 MB)
by Mark Anson, former Chief Investment Officer- CalPERS Investment Office; Ted White, former Director- CalPERS Corporate Governance; Ho Ho, Quantitative Equity Portfolio Manager- CalPERS Global Equity Office Journal of Asset Management , Vol 5, Index 3, 2004; pg. 149-156.

This study concludes that the publication of the Focus List has a significant impact on shareowner wealth. To summarize, on average, a public company that is placed on CalPERS Focus List earns a return over and above its risk-adjusted rate of return that is 59 percentage points greater than the risk adjusted rate of return that shareowners would normally expect to receive for their investment. These excess returns are statistically significant at the one percent level.

Monitoring the Monitor: Evaluating CalPERS Shareholder Activism
by Brad Barber, Finance Professor of the University of California, Davis; April 2006.

The study analyzes the gains of CalPERS corporate governance actions linked to the 115 companies named to the pension fund's Focus List from 1992 to 2005. Barber found short-term benefits of at least $3.1 billion for investors over a 14-year period.