Note(s): This table compares the future operating performance of firms achieving MBE by a small margin (SMBEAT = 1) with that of matched non-MBE firms (MBE = 0) and firms that beat analyst forecasts by a big margin (BIGBEAT = 1). The match is based on Analyst, GVT, ROA, ETP, Size, MTB, Leverage, CFO, Prior stock return and industry in year t using one-to-one nearest neighbor propensity score matching without replacement. To enhance the effectiveness of matching, we use a small caliper of 0.01 to identify sets of matches. MBE firms (non-MBE firms) are those firms whose reported EPS equals or exceeds (below) the latest analysts' forecasted EPS made within 150−2 days before the earnings announcements. Firms achieving MBE by a small margin (firms beating analyst forecasts by a big margin) are those firms whose actual EPS equals or exceeds the latest analyst forecast by ≤ 1 cent per share (>1 cent per share), and 0 otherwise. ROA is net profit scaled by closing total assets. EPS is the actual earnings per share. CFO is cash flows from operating activities divided by year-end total assets. The test of mean differences is a two-tailed t-test. *, ** and *** indicate statistical significance at the 10, 5 and 1% levels, respectively