
Here is a straightforward formula for calculating the Beta Coefficient of a Stock:
- Obtain the stock’s historical share price data.
- Obtain historical values of a market index, e.g., S&P 500.
- Convert the share price values into daily return values using the following formula: return = (closing share price −...
- Convert historical stock market index values similarly.
How to easily calculate the beta of a stock?
Top 3 Formula to Calculate Beta
- Covariance/Variance Method. To calculate the covariance Calculate The Covariance Covariance is a statistical measure used to find the relationship between two assets and is calculated as the standard deviation ...
- By Slope Method in Excel. We can also calculate Beta by using the slope function in excel. ...
- Correlation Method. ...
How do you calculate the beta of a stock?
Part 1 Part 1 of 4: Calculating Beta Using a Simple Equation
- Find the risk-free rate. This is the rate of return an investor could expect on an investment in which his or her money is not at risk, such as ...
- Determine the respective rates of return for the stock and for the market or appropriate index. These figures are also expressed as percentages.
- Subtract the risk-free rate from the stock's rate of return. ...
How do you calculate beta of stock?
Stock Beta formula. Stock’s Beta is calculated as the division of covariance of the stock’s returns and the benchmark’s returns by the variance of the benchmark’s returns over a predefined period. Below is the formula to calculate stock Beta. Stock Beta Formula = COV(Rs,RM) / VAR(Rm)
What factors determine the beta of a stock?
Beta is determined by the cyclicality of a firm's revenues. This cyclicality is magnified by the firm's operating and financial leverage. (1) Revenues. The cyclicality of a firm's sales is an important factor in determining beta. In general, stock prices will rise when the economy expands and will fall when the economy contracts.

How do you find the beta formula?
Beta can be calculated by dividing the asset's standard deviation of returns by the market's standard deviation. The result is then multiplied by the correlation of the security's return and the market's return.
What is the formula for beta of a portfolio?
Portfolio Beta formula Add up the value (number of shares x share price) of each stock you own and your entire portfolio. Based on these values, determine how much you have of each stock as a percentage of the overall portfolio. Take the percentage figures and multiply them with each stock's beta value.
How do you calculate beta of a stock using CAPM?
CAPM Beta Calculation in ExcelStep 1 – Download the Stock Prices & Index Data for the past 3 years. ... Step 2 – Sort the Dates & Adjusted Closing Prices. ... Step 3 – Prepare a single sheet of Stock Prices Data & Index Data.Step 4 – Calculate the Fractional Daily Return.Step 5 – Calculate Beta – Three Methods.
What is the β value of the stock market?
Beta is a way of measuring a stock's volatility compared with the overall market's volatility. The market as a whole has a beta of 1. Stocks with a value greater than 1 are more volatile than the market (meaning they will generally go up more than the market goes up, and go down more than the market goes down).
How do you find the beta and alpha of a stock?
Alpha = R – Rf – beta (Rm-Rf) R represents the portfolio return. Rf represents the risk-free rate of return. Beta represents the systematic risk of a portfolio. Rm represents the market return, per a benchmark.
How do you calculate beta of a stock in Excel?
To calculate beta in Excel:Download historical security prices for the asset whose beta you want to measure.Download historical security prices for the comparison benchmark.Calculate the percent change period to period for both the asset and the benchmark. ... Find the variance of the benchmark using =VAR.More items...
What is beta in the CAPM?
Beta is the standard CAPM measure of systematic risk. It gauges the tendency of the return of a security to move in parallel with the return of the stock market as a whole. One way to think of beta is as a gauge of a security's volatility relative to the market's volatility.
How is beta measured?
The beta coefficient is calculated by dividing the covariance of the stock return versus the market return by the variance of the market. Beta is used in the calculation of the capital asset pricing model (CAPM). This model calculates the required return for an asset versus its risk.
How do you calculate beta of a stock in India?
How to find the beta of Indian stocks?Get the historical prices for the desired stock.Get the historical prices for the comparison benchmark index.Calculate % change for the same period for both the stock and the benchmark index. ... Calculate the Variance of the stock.Find the covariance of the stock to the benchmark.
How do you calculate beta in regression?
0:058:16Estimating Beta with Regression Analysis - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipChange in the market index ok so if a company has a beta of 2 in the market index were to go up by 1MoreChange in the market index ok so if a company has a beta of 2 in the market index were to go up by 1% you'd expect a 2% increase in that stocks return.
How to calculate beta?
Beta can be calculated by dividing the asset’s standard deviation of returns by the market’s standard deviation of returns. The result is then multiplied by the correlation of security’s return and the market’s return.
What does a beta mean in stocks?
Beta, which has a value of 1, indicates that it exactly moves in accordance with the market value. A higher beta indicates that the stock is riskier, and a lower beta indicates that the stock is less volatile as compared to the market. Mostly Betas generally fall between the values of range 1.0 to 2.0.
What is beta in capital asset pricing model?
Beta is used in the formulae of capital asset pricing model (CAPM), which is used to calculate the expected return. Expected Return The Expected Return formula is determined by applying all the Investments portfolio weights with their respective returns and doing the total of results.
What is beta in stock market?
Beta is a measure of the volatility of the stock as compared to the overall stock market. Overall Stock Market Stock Market works on the basic principle of matching supply and demand through an auction process where investors are willing to pay a certain amount for an asset, and they are willing to sell off something they have at a specific price.
What is the correlation between XYZ and NASDAQ?
Based on data over the past three years, the correlation between the firm XYZ and NASDAQ is 0.82. XYZ has a standard deviation of returns of 22.12%, and NASDAQ has a standard deviation of returns of 22.21%.
How to calculate beta of a stock?
Here is a straightforward formula for calculating the Beta Coefficient of a Stock: 1 Obtain the stock’s historical share price data. 2 Obtain historical values of a market index, e.g., S&P 500. 3 Convert the share price values into daily return values using the following formula: return = (closing share price − opening share price)/opening share price. 4 Convert historical stock market index values in a similar way. 5 Align the share return data with index return such that there is a 1-on-1 correspondence between them. For share price return, there should be a corresponding index return. 6 Using the SLOPE function in a financial calculator to find the slope between both arrays of data and the resultant figure is Beta.
What does beta mean in stocks?
Beta can give you an estimate of the stock’s risk and some idea of market volatility. Ideally, the Beta will tell you the difference between a stock’s risk and the risk of an entire index market.
What is the beta coefficient?
Generally, analysts regard the Beta Coefficient as a measure of systematic or “general market” risk. Analysts often use the mathematical symbol β to represent the Beta in calculations. To explain, systematic is the level of risk or volatility of equity in the entire market or index.
Why do analysts use the beta coefficient?
Analysts examine the Beta Coefficient, or Beta of stock, because the Beta measures risk and volatility. Specifically, the Beta can give you an estimate of the stock’s risk and some idea of market volatility. Ideally, the Beta will tell you the difference between a stock’s risk and the risk of an entire index market.
Why is beta a limited tool?
Hence, the Beta is a limited tool because it only measures some risks associated with individual stocks or indexes. However, a rough estimate of risk is better than no estimate of risk.
What does a value of 5 mean?
A value of 1 means it moved with the market, a value of 2 means it moved up and down with the market but twice as much, and a value of .5 means it moved up and down half as much as the market did. Strategic Beta for Funds & ETFs.
Can you use beta in stock analysis?
In the final analysis, the Beta is only one of many stock analysis tools you can use. In fact, some analysts and investors never use the Beta. On the other hand, there are many analysts who swear by the Beta. Hence using the Beta is a matter of choice.
What is beta in stock market?
Stock Beta is one of the statistical tools that quantify the volatility in the prices of a security or stock with reference to the market as a whole or any other benchmark used for comparing the performance of the security. It is actually a component of Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM)
What does it mean when the beta of a stock is negative?
The Stock Beta can have three types of values: Beta < 0: If the Beta is negative, then this implies an inverse relationship between the stock and the underlying market or the benchmark in comparison. Both stock and the market or the benchmark will move in the opposite direction. Beta = 0: If the Beta is equal to zero, ...
What does a beta of 1 mean?
Beta of 1 implies that the volatility of the stock is exactly the same as that of the underlying market or the index in both qualitative and quantitative terms. Beta of greater than 1 implies that the stock is more volatile than the underlying market or index. A negative Beta is possible but highly unlikely.
What does it mean when the beta is greater than zero?
Beta > 0: If the Beta is greater than zero, then there is a strong direct relationship between the stock and the underlying market or the benchmark. Both stock and the market or the benchmark will move in the same direction. Some further insight is as follows:
What does it mean when the beta is 0?
Beta = 0: If the Beta is equal to zero, then this implies that there is no relation between the movement of the returns of the stock and the market or the benchmark, and hence both are too dissimilar to have any common pattern in price movements . Beta > 0: If the Beta is greater than zero, then there is a strong direct relationship between ...
Is a negative beta of gold a good thing?
A negative Beta is possible but highly unlikely. Most investors believe that gold and stock based on gold tend to perform better when the market dives. Whereas a Beta of zero is possible in the case of government bonds acting as risk-free securities providing a low yield to the investors.
What is beta in stock market?
Learn more... Beta is the volatility or risk of a particular stock relative to the volatility of the entire stock market. Beta is an indicator of how risky a particular stock is, and it is used to evaluate its expected rate of return.
How to interpret beta?
Know how to interpret beta. Beta is the risk, relative to the stock market as a whole, an investor assumes by owning a particular stock. That's why you need to compare the returns of a single stock against the returns of an index. The index is the benchmark against which the stock is judged. The risk of an index is fixed at 1. A beta of lower than 1 means that the stock is less risky than the index to which it's being compared. A beta of higher than 1 means the stock is more risky than the index to which it's being compared.
What does it mean when the beta is lower than 1?
The risk of an index is fixed at 1. A beta of lower than 1 means that the stock is less risky than the index to which it's being compared. A beta of higher than 1 means the stock is more risky than the index to which it's being compared.
What is beta analysis?
Beta analyzes a stock's volatility over a set period of time, without regard to whether the market was on an upswing or downswing. As with other stock fundamentals, the past performance it analyzes is not a guarantee of how the stock will perform in the future. Thanks!
What does it mean when the beta is negative?
Usually the rates of return are figured over several months. Either or both of these values may be negative, meaning that investing in the stock or the market (index) as a whole would mean a loss during the period. If only one of the two rates is negative, the beta will be negative.
How to calculate the return of a stock?
Begin calculating returns for the stock market index. 1 Since return is a calculation over time, you won't put anything in your first cell; leave it blank. You need at least two data points to calculate returns, which is why you'll start on the second cell of your index-returns column. 2 What you're doing is subtracting the more recent value from the older value and then dividing the result by the older value. This just gives you the percent of loss or gain for that period. 3 Your equation for the returns column might look something like this: = (B4-B3)/B3
How many data points do you need to calculate returns?
You need at least two data points to calculate returns, which is why you'll start on the second cell of your index-returns column. What you're doing is subtracting the more recent value from the older value and then dividing the result by the older value.
What does it mean when a stock is beta?
Beta is a measure of how sensitive a firm's stock price is to an index or benchmark. A beta greater than 1 indicates that the firm's stock price is more volatile than the market, and a beta less than 1 indicates that the firm's stock price is less volatile than the market. A beta may produce different results because of ...
What is beta in finance?
In finance, the beta of a firm refers to the sensitivity of its share price with respect to an index or benchmark. ...
Why do low beta stocks dove down?
This is because their market correlation was much lower, and thus the swings orchestrated through the index were not felt as acutely for those low beta stocks.
What does a beta of less than one mean?
If the opposite is the case, its beta will be a value less than one. A company with a beta of greater than one will tend to amplify market movements (for instance the case for the banking sector), and a business with a beta of less than one will tend to ease market movements.
Is low beta stock volatile?
Low beta stocks are much less volatile; however, another analysis must be done with intra-industry factors in mind. On the other hand, higher beta stocks are selected by investors who are keen and focused on short-term market swings. They wish to turn this volatility into profit, albeit with higher risks.
What is beta coefficient?
The Beta coefficient is a measure of sensitivity or correlation of a security. Marketable Securities Marketable securities are unrestricted short-term financial instruments that are issued either for equity securities or for debt securities of a publicly listed company. The issuing company creates these instruments for the express purpose ...
What is the benefit of using beta coefficient?
Advantages of using Beta Coefficient. One of the most popular uses of Beta is to estimate the cost of equity (Re) in valuation models. The CAPM estimates an asset’s Beta based on a single factor, which is the systematic risk of the market.
What are the drawbacks of beta?
The largest drawback of using Beta is that it relies solely on past returns and does not account for new information that may impact returns in the future. Furthermore, as more return data is gathered over time, the measure of Beta changes, and subsequently, so does the cost of equity.
What is asset beta?
Unlevered Beta / Asset Beta Unlevered Beta (Asset Beta) is the volatility of returns for a business, without considering its financial leverage. It only takes into account its assets. , on the other hand, only shows the risk of an unlevered company relative to the market.
Why is equity beta called equity beta?
It is also commonly referred to as “equity beta” because it is the volatility of an equity based on its capital structure. Capital Structure Capital structure refers to the amount of debt and/or equity employed by a firm to fund its operations and finance its assets. A firm's capital structure.
What is leveraged beta?
Levered beta, also known as equity beta or stock beta, is the volatility of returns for a stock, taking into account the impact of the company’s leverage from its capital structure. It compares the volatility (risk) of a levered company to the risk of the market. Levered beta includes both business risk. Systemic Risk Systemic risk can be defined ...
How to calculate the weekly return of a stock?
Follow these steps to calculate β in Excel: 1 Obtain the weekly prices of the stock 2 Obtain the weekly prices of the market index (i.e. S&P 500 Index) 3 Calculate the weekly returns of the stock 4 Calculate the weekly returns of the market index 5 Use the Slope function and select the weekly returns of the market and the stock, each as their own series 6 Congrats! The output from the Slope function is the β
Is a company with a 0f 0.79 more volatile than the market?
Also, a company with a β of 1.30 is theoretically 30% more volatile than the market. Similarly, a company with a β 0f 0.79 is theoretically 21% less volatile than the market.
What is beta in stocks?
Beta is a measure of a stock’s sensitivity to changes in the overall market. You can measure the beta in your portfolios with some basic math. Learn more about how to calculate the volatility, or beta, of your portfolio.
What does a beta of 1.0 mean?
A beta of 1.0 indicates that its volatility is the same as the benchmark. In other words, it moves in tandem with the benchmark. A number higher than 1.0 indicates more volatility than the benchmark, while a lower number indicates more stability. For example, a stock with a beta of 1.2 is 20% more volatile than the market, ...
Can you calculate beta using a benchmark?
For this reason, you may wish to calculate beta yourself to get a more precise answer. In some situations, you may prefer to calculate beta using a different benchmark.
