This paper presents empirical evidence that previously disclosed financial ratio information is useful in explaining differential market reactions for a cross-section of firms facing subsequent common industry-level changes. We focus our attention on the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 (Public Law 95-504), which was aimed at complete deregulation of the U.S. airline industry after 40 years of federal regulation. Our empirical results indicate that market reaction to the deregulatory changes is positively associated with operating performance and asset utilization. This suggests that an airline firm's operating efficiency as measured by these ratios is a key determinant of how investors expect it to perform in a deregulated competitive environment.
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