Hedging Strategies Using Financial Derivatives in Different Industries

A Master of Science in Finance (MSF) by Sergei Likhachev entitled, “Hedging Strategies Using Financial Derivatives in Different Industries”, submitted in May 2025. Thesis advisor is Dr. Donghyeok Jang. Soft copy is available (Thesis, Approval Signatures, Completion Certificate, and AUS Archives Consent Form).

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of financial derivatives that companies usually use in terms of hedging external potential risks on the firm value among public companies from all industries that are traded in the United States stock market from 1998 to 2024. This study examines the impact of hedging on the firm value based on whole data sample, industry subsample and crisis subsample analysis. The results of the research show that hedging has weak negative impact on the firm values, while industry analysis reveals that impact of hedging is more industry-specific as companies experience both positive and negative impact on the firm value. Crises analysis emphasizes the significance of hedging in affecting the firm value, but the direction of the effect is mixed due to crises-specific features and premises.