
Portfolio Variance Formula
- First, the weight of the individual stocks present in the portfolio is being calculated by dividing the value of that particular stock by the total value of the ...
- The weights after being calculated are then being squared.
- The standard deviation of the stock from the mean is then calculated by first calculating the mean of the portfolio and then subtracting the return of that individual ...
- The standard deviations of the individual stocks are calculated and squared.
- It is then multiplied by their respective weights in the portfolio.
- The correlation of the stocks present in the portfolio is being calculated by multiplying the covariance between the stocks in the portfolio with the standard deviation of the ...
- The formula is then multiplied by 2.
How do you calculate the daily price variance of a stock?
To calculate the amount of a daily price variation, you'll need to know the high and low prices for a given stock on a given day. Most newspaper and online stock quotes give this basic information, labeled "high" and "low." Subtract the smaller number from the larger number to determine the daily price variation.
How do you calculate variance in accounting?
To start, gather the important data for the asset you want to calculate variance for and determine for what period you would like to calculate variance. Find out what percentage return your assets yielded over a given period of time. For example, three years is a standard period over which to measure variance.
What is the Annual variance of Company a's stock?
The annual variance of Company A's stock is 20%, while the variance of Company B's stock is 30%. The wise investor seeks an efficient frontier. That's the lowest level of risk at which a target return can be achieved.
How do I calculate a stock's covariance?
Calculating a stock's covariance starts with finding a list of previous returns or "historical returns" as they are called on most quote pages. Typically, you use the closing price for each day to find the return. To begin the calculations, find the closing price for both stocks and build a list.

What is stock variance?
A stock's historical variance measures the difference between the stock's returns for different periods and its average return. A stock with a lower variance typically generates returns that are closer to its average.
How do you find the variance of a stock in Excel?
Sample variance formula in ExcelFind the mean by using the AVERAGE function: =AVERAGE(B2:B7) ... Subtract the average from each number in the sample: ... Square each difference and put the results to column D, beginning in D2: ... Add up the squared differences and divide the result by the number of items in the sample minus 1:
How do you find the variance and standard deviation of a stock?
The formula for the SD requires a few steps:First, take the square of the difference between each data point and the sample mean, finding the sum of those values.Next, divide that sum by the sample size minus one, which is the variance.Finally, take the square root of the variance to get the SD.
What does stock variance measure?
Variance is a measurement of the spread between numbers in a data set. Investors use variance to see how much risk an investment carries and whether it will be profitable. Variance is also used to compare the relative performance of each asset in a portfolio to achieve the best asset allocation.
How do you calculate the VAR of a portfolio in Excel?
Steps for VaR Calculation in Excel:Import the data from Yahoo finance.Calculate the returns of the closing price Returns = Today's Price - Yesterday's Price / Yesterday's Price.Calculate the mean of the returns using the average function.Calculate the standard deviation of the returns using STDEV function.More items...•
How do you calculate stock SD?
The calculation steps are as follows:Calculate the average (mean) price for the number of periods or observations.Determine each period's deviation (close less average price).Square each period's deviation.Sum the squared deviations.Divide this sum by the number of observations.More items...
How is stock volatility calculated?
How to Calculate VolatilityFind the mean of the data set. ... Calculate the difference between each data value and the mean. ... Square the deviations. ... Add the squared deviations together. ... Divide the sum of the squared deviations (82.5) by the number of data values.
What is the standard deviation of a stock?
Standard deviation is the statistical measure of market volatility, measuring how widely prices are dispersed from the average price. If prices trade in a narrow trading range, the standard deviation will return a low value that indicates low volatility.
Why do we calculate the variance?
The variance measures the average degree to which each point differs from the mean. While standard deviation is the square root of the variance, variance is the average of all data points within a group. The two concepts are useful and significant for traders, who use them to measure market volatility.
Which formula should be used to calculate the variance?
For a population, the variance is calculated as σ² = ( Σ (x-μ)² ) / N. Another equivalent formula is σ² = ( (Σ x²) / N ) - μ². If we need to calculate variance by hand, this alternate formula is easier to work with.
How to find dollar variance?
The formula for dollar variance is even simpler. It’s equal to the actual result subtracted from the forecast number. If the units are dollars, this gives us the dollar variance. This formula can also work for the number of units or any other type of integer.
Why is variance important in financial analysis?
The job of a financial analyst is to measure results, compare them to the budget/forecast, and explain what caused any difference.
Is variance analysis positive or negative?
Since variance analysis is performed on both revenues and expenses, it’s important to carefully distinguish between a positive or negative impact. For this reason, instead of saying positive, negative, over or under, the terms favorable and unfavorable are used, as they clearly make the point.
How to find the percent variance of an item?
To calculate the percent variance of an item, you’ll need your cost of goods sold (COGS) and inventory usage in dollars. You'll be able to do this after taking bar inventory and getting your counts. Subtracting the inventory usage from the COGS gives you your variance in dollars.
What is variance in statistics?
The meaning of variance is the difference or discrepancy between two or more numbers or sets of numbers. It's similar to what shrinkage is. When you’re calculating the variance of something, you’re calculating how much one set varies from the other set. Any time anyone wants to make an informed decision about data sets, variance is needed.
What does it mean when a bar has a high inventory variance?
This is the obvious one. A high inventory variance means you’re not collecting enough money for the totality of what you’re selling.
What is the variance of a restaurant?
Most hospitality businesses run a variance of around 20-25%. A favorable variance is anything under 20%. In a perfect world, your variance is 10% or less. Though that’s pretty hard to achieve. You may hear talk of “zero-variance” strategies and managers, but don’t be fooled. No bar or restaurants has 0% variance.
How often should you do inventory?
A good inventory period is inventory done at least once a week. Start by making sure that every drink you offer is accounted for in your POS system, including free drinks. Then use a free bar inventory template or inventory management software. Both help take inventory consistently.
Is variance an absolute value?
Variance is always expressed as an absolute value. That means negative numbers become positive numbers. If your variance percentage calculation spits out -26% variance, the industry refers to this as 26% variance.
Is alcohol inventory control time consuming?
Managing alcohol invent ory control manually is tedious, complicated, and time-consuming. Whether you're a small business or a big player with multiple locations. It also can't guarantee an error-free result. Entering numbers for a thousand bottles into multiple spreadsheets takes time away from countless other business-critical tasks.
What is covariance in portfolio?
Covariance applied to a portfolio can help determine what assets to include in the portfolio. It measures whether stocks move in the same direction (a positive covariance) or in opposite directions (a negative covariance).
How to find covariance in Excel?
In Excel, you use one of the following functions to find the covariance: 1 = COVARIANCE.S () for a sample 2 = COVARIANCE.P () for a population
How does covariance help predict the future?
Formulas that calculate covariance can predict how two stocks might perform relative to each other in the future. Applied to historical returns, covariance can help determine if stocks' returns tend to move with or against each other.
What does correlation mean in stocks?
If the correlation is 1, they move perfectly together, and if the correlation is -1, the stocks move perfectly in opposite directions. If the correlation is 0, then the two stocks move in random directions from each other. In short, covariance tells you that two variables change the same way while correlation reveals how a change in one variable ...
What is the difference between correlation and covariance?
In short, covariance tell s you that two variables change the same way while correlation reveals how a change in one variable affects a change in the other. You also may use covariance to find the standard deviation of a multi-stock portfolio.
What does it mean when a portfolio manager selects stocks that work well together?
When constructing a portfolio, a portfolio manager will select stocks that work well together, which usually means these stocks' returns would not move in the same direction.
Why is covariance important?
Using the covariance tool, investors might even be able to select stocks that complement each other in terms of price movement. This can help reduce the overall risk and increase the overall potential return of a portfolio. It is important to understand the role of covariance when selecting stocks.
How to calculate inventory variance?
Following these steps can help businesses get one step closer to reducing stock errors, ensuring inventory accuracy, and minimizing profit loss.#N#Formulas-#N#Dollar Amount Value Variance = Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) in Dollars - Usage in Dollars#N#Percentage Variance = (Variance in Percentage / Usage in Dollars) X 100#N#Step 1- Find the COGS.#N#To determine the cost of goods sold, simply multiply the number of units (or products) sold during a pre-determined period of time by the cost per unit.#N#COGS = number of units sold x cost per unit.#N#For example, take the month of December for a bicycle shop. If 20 bikes were sold at a cost of $250 each, then the formula would be-#N#20 (bikes sold) X $250 (the cost) = $5000 (COGS)#N#Step 2- Determine the inventory usage value.#N#Find and calculate this usage by discovering how much stock was utilized over a set time period.#N#Inventory Usage = Starting Inventory + Received Product Inventory - Ending Inventory#N#Going back to the previous example of the bicycle shop, this formula seeks to calculate the inventory usage of bikes in the shop over those 31 days. The starting inventory is what's actually in-store before December 1 and the ending inventory is what is left on the 31st after the shop closes. To ensure this formula is used correctly, the bike shop must further factor in the number of bikes ordered in December which is the received product inventory.#N#Hypothetically, if the number of bikes at the beginning inventory was 30, the ending inventory was 8, and the company ordered 5 new bicycles that month the formula works as such-#N#30 + 5 - 8 = 27 (inventory usage)#N#With each bike costing $250, the monetary value of the inventory usage is-#N#27 bikes X $250 (cost) = $6,750 (usage in dollars)#N#Step 3- Calculate inventory variance using the formula.#N#Using the figures calculated by the previous formulas, the final step is to plug in the appropriate numbers to determine the variance.#N#This can be calculated for December as follows-#N#$5000 (COGS) - $6750 (Usage in $) = $1750 (variance in $)#N#When expressed as a percentage this would be -25%.#N#While Excel is a great way to input and calculate these formulas, variance reports should be produced as frequently as possible to ensure inventory accuracy. To do this, businesses should look towards investing in inventory management software, which can produce variance reports instantly with no manual calculations involved.
What is inventory loss?
Inventory loss - The loss of goods is a prime contributor to inventory differences, ultimately accounting for about one percent of all sales. This loss (or shrinkage) is a direct result of shoplifting, employee theft, or even supplier fraud.
What is the starting inventory in a bike shop?
The starting inventory is what's actually in-store before December 1 and the ending inventory is what is left on the 31st after the shop closes. To ensure this formula is used correctly, the bike shop must further factor in the number of bikes ordered in December which is the received product inventory.
What is misplaced inventory?
Misplaced inventory - In a nutshell, misplaced inventory takes place when an item or product has been uploaded to the database and then put in the wrong physical location. This also occurs when customers pick up a product and then place it somewhere else.
Is shrinkage of inventory unavoidable?
By Jin Hyun. , July 27, 2020. Shrinkage of inventory is almost unavoidable for most product-based businesses. Whether it is due to shoplifting, theft, poor management, or loss, its, unfortunately, a common occurrence for many.
How to calculate portfolio variance?
To calculate the portfolio variance of securities in a portfolio, multiply the squared weight of each security by the corresponding variance of the security and add two multiplied by the weighted average of the securities multiplied by the covariance between the securities.
How can portfolio variance be reduced?
Modern portfolio theory (MPT) states that portfolio variance can be reduced by selecting securities with low or negative correlations in which to invest, such as stocks and bonds.
What is standard deviation?
Standard deviation is a key measure of risk used by portfolio managers, financial advisors, and institutional investors. Asset managers routinely include standard deviation in their performance reports.
How can risk be lowered in a portfolio?
Measuring Risk. Following MPT, risk can be lowered in a portfolio by investing in non-correlated assets. That is, an investment that might be considered risky on its own can actually lower the overall risk of a portfolio because it tends to rise when other investments fall.
How to calculate daily price variation?
Although it is a daily measurement, average daily variations can be calculated by adding up individual daily price variations and dividing the total by the number of days to spot a more long-term trend.
What is daily variation in stock?
The daily price variation of a stock is the difference between its highest and lowest values on a given trading day. Daily price variation may also refer to the difference between one day's opening price and the next day's opening price. Daily price variation is a measure of volatility, or how much a stock's value changes. Although it is a daily measurement, average daily variations can be calculated by adding up individual daily price variations and dividing the total by the number of days to spot a more long-term trend.
Why do investors use daily price variation data?
A stock with a very large daily price variation is very volatile and may be expected to change its value quickly over time. When daily price variations are small, it indicates more consensus within the market about the value ...
What is EMA in stock trading?
What Is "EMA" in Stock Trading? Investors use many different tools and computations to guide their decisions about when to buy or sell stock. Many of these tools are very complex, though investment websites and software make them simple enough for even beginner investors to use. However, other calculations that reveal information about ...
Introduction
If you Google ‘Safety Stock Calculation’, you will find a myriad number of web pages providing various approaches to calculate Safety Stock.
Method I: Using historical usage
Usage is nothing but the sum of customer shipments, interplant transfers, and consumption of a part (either for maintenance or repairs, to make a finished product, etc.) at a given location.
Method II: Using forecast error
Many organizations use forecasts for planning their business. When using forecasts for calculating Safety Stock, we need to account for the variability in forecast error instead of variability in demand as shown in Method I.
What is standard deviation in stock?
The standard deviation (volatility) of stock 1. The standard deviation of stock 2. The covariance, or relational movement, between the stock prices of stock 1 and stock 2. To calculate portfolio volatility, the logic underlying the equation is complicated, but the formula takes into account the weight of each stock in the portfolio, ...
What is portfolio volatility?
Portfolio volatility is a measure of portfolio risk, meaning a portfolio's tendency to deviate from its mean return. Remember that a portfolio is made up of individual positions, each with their own volatility measures. These individual variations, when combined, create a single measure of portfolio volatility.
Do stock prices fluctuate over time?
In actuality, stock prices and index values often have asymmetrical distributions and can stay unusually high or low for long periods of time. In addition, a stock's or index's volatility tends to change over time, which challenges the assumption of an unchanging statistical distribution of returns. While performing historical volatility ...

What Is Covariance?
Covariance in Portfolio Management
- Covariance applied to a portfolio can help determine what assets to include in the portfolio. It measures whether stocks move in the same direction (a positive covariance) or in opposite directions (a negative covariance). When constructing a portfolio, a portfolio manager will select stocks that work well together, which usually means these stocks' returns would not move in th…
Calculating Covariance
- Calculating a stock's covariance starts with finding a list of previous returns or "historical returns" as they are called on most quote pages. Typically, you use the closing pricefor each day to find the return. To begin the calculations, find the closing price for both stocks and build a list. For example: Next, we need to calculate the average r...
Covariance in Microsoft Excel
- In MS Excel,you use one of the following functions to find the covariance: 1. = COVARIANCE.S() for a sample1 2. = COVARIANCE.P() for a population2 You will need to set up the two lists of returns in vertical columns as in Table 1. Then, when prompted, select each column. In Excel, each list is called an "array," and two arrays should be inside the brackets, separated by a comma.
Meaning
- In the example, there is a positive covariance, so the two stocks tend to move together. When one stock has a positive return, the other tends to have a positive return as well. If the result were negative, then the two stocks would tend to have opposite returns—when one had a positive return, the other would have a negative return.
Uses of Covariance
- Finding that two stocks have a high or low covariance might not be a useful metric on its own. Covariance can tell how the stocks move together, but to determine the strength of the relationship, we need to look at their correlation. The correlation should, therefore, be used in conjunction with the covariance, and is represented by this equation: Correlation=ρ=cov(X,Y)σX…
The Bottom Line
- Covariance is a common statistical calculation that can show how two stocks tend to move together. Because we can only use historical returns, there will never be complete certainty about the future. Also, covariance should not be used on its own. Instead, it should be used in conjunction with other calculations such as correlation or standard deviation.