The findings were documented in the paper "Do sell-side analysts react too pessimistically to bad news for minority-led firms? Evidence from target price valuations" by Scheller College of Business associate professor Kathy Rupar-Wang and colleagues Sean Wang and Hayoung Yoon, both with the Edwin L. Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University. 

"To strengthen the link between CEO race and company valuation, we show the same effect with a controlled experiment where only the CEOs' photo varies across companies. This approach addresses the concern that Non-White CEOs in our main analyses were somehow paired with uniquely poorly performing companies," said Rupar Wang.

The study also revealed that racial bias becomes more pronounced during periods of heightened racial tensions. Interestingly, increased familiarity with Non-White CEOs reduces these valuation disparities, indicating the bias may be subconscious. The researchers suggest that educational initiatives and increased awareness could help promote equality in financial markets.

The findings highlight the potential impact of implicit racial bias in professional settings, particularly in financial analysis and corporate evaluation.