
How do you calculate the expected return of a stock?
- Find the initial cost of the investment.
- Find total amount of dividends or interest paid during investment period.
- Find the closing sales price of the investment.
- Add sum of dividends and/or interest to the closing price.
- Divide this number by the initial investment cost and subtract 1.
What is the formula for expected return?
Apr 24, 2019 · Expected return is calculated by multiplying potential outcomes (returns) by the chances of each outcome occurring, and then calculating the sum of those results (as shown below). In the short term, the return on an investment can be considered a random variable Random Walk Theory The Random Walk Theory is a mathematical model of the stock market.
How to calculate stock returns manually?
Mar 23, 2022 · The Bottom Line. In summary, you can estimate the expected return of a stock investment by using the discounted cash flow (DCF) model, applying the most likely growth rate for free cash flow (FCF), and altering the discount rate (required rate of return) until it hits the stock's current stock price.
How do you calculate stock market return?
Dec 14, 2020 · How do you calculate the expected return of a stock? Find the initial cost of the investment. Find total amount of dividends or interest paid during investment period. Find the closing sales price of the investment. Add sum of dividends and/or interest to the closing price. Divide this number by the ...
How do you calculate expected return and standard deviation?
Sep 12, 2021 · Once you have found all of the above values, you can calculate the stock’s estimated return using the CAPM formula. Let’s do Apple as an example: The risk-free rate as of today (July 24, 2021) is 1.276%; The expected return is 7.5%; According to Yahoo Finance, the beta is 1.21; Altogether we find: Apple’s expected return = 0.01276 + 1.21*(0.075–0.01276) …

Examples of Expected Return Formula (With Excel Template)
Let’s take an example to understand the calculation of the Expected Return formula in a better manner.
Explanation of Expected Return Formula
Expected Return can be defined as the probable return for a portfolio held by investors based on past returns or it can also be defined as an expected value of the portfolio based on probability distribution of probable returns.
Relevance and Uses of Expected Return Formula
As mentioned above the Expected Return calculation is based on historical data and hence it has a limitation of forecasting future possible returns. Investors have to keep in mind various other factors and not invest based on the expected return calculated. Taking an example: –
Conclusion
Expected Return can be defined as the probable return for a portfolio held by investors based on past returns. As it only utilizes past returns hence it is a limitation and value of expected return should not be a sole factor under consideration by investors in deciding whether to invest in a portfolio or not.
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This has been a guide to Expected Return formula. Here we discuss How to Calculate Expected Return along with practical examples. We also provide Expected Return Calculator with downloadable excel template. You may also look at the following articles to learn more –
What is the rate of return?
The money that you earn on an investment is known as your return. The rate of return is the pace at which money is earned or lost on an investment. If you’re going to invest, you may want to consider how much money that investment is likely to earn you.
What is required rate of return?
The required rate of return is a concept in corporate finance. It’s the amount of money, or the proportion of money received back from the money invested, that a project needs to generate in order to be worth it for the investor or company doing it.
What is compound annual growth rate?
If the real rate of return is a way to compare the value of an investment from when purchased to a given point of time, the compound annual growth rate is a way of measuring how much the investment has grown on average per year.
What is systemic risk?
All investments are subject to pressures in the market. These pressures, or sources of risk, can come in the form of systematic and unsystematic risk. Systematic risk affects an entire investment type. Within that investment category, it probably can’t be “diversified” away.
Is historical data predictive?
That said, investors may want to be leery of extrapolating past returns for the future. Historical data is a guide, it’s not necessarily predictive.
How to calculate expected return?
The formula for expected return for investment with different probable returns can be calculated by using the following steps: 1 Firstly, the value of an investment at the start of the period has to be determined. 2 Next, the value of the investment at the end of the period has to be assessed. However, there can be several probable values of the asset, and as such, the asset price or value has to be assessed along with the probability of the same. 3 Now, the return at each probability has to be calculated based on the asset value at the beginning and at the end of the period. 4 Finally, the expected return of an investment with different probable returns is calculated as the sum product of each probable return and corresponding probability as given below –#N#Expected return = (p1 * r1) + (p2 * r2) + ………… + (pn * rn)
Why is it important to understand the concept of a portfolio's expected to return?
It is important to understand the concept of a portfolio’s expected to return as it is used by investors to anticipate the profit or loss on an investment. Based on the expected return formula, an investor can decide whether to invest in an asset based on the given probable returns.
What is expected return?
The expected return of an investment is the rate of return an investor can reasonably expect, based on historical performance. You can use an expected-return formula to estimate the profit or loss on a specific stock or fund.
Why is expected return important?
Expected return can be an effective tool for estimating your potential profits and losses on a particular investment. Before diving in, it’s important to understand the pros and cons. Pros. Helps an investor estimate their portfolio’s return. Can help guide an investor’s asset allocation.
What does it mean when a stock has a low standard deviation?
When a stock has a low standard deviation, its price stays relatively stable, and returns are usually close to the average. A high standard deviation indicates that a stock can be quite volatile.
How to Calculate Expected Return
To calculate the expected return of a portfolio, the investor needs to know the expected return of each of the securities in their portfolio as well as the overall weight of each security in the portfolio. That means the investor needs to add up the weighted averages of each security's anticipated rates of return (RoR).
Formula for Expected Return
Let's say your portfolio contains three securities. The equation for its expected return is as follows:
Limitations of Expected Return
Since the market is volatile and unpredictable, calculating the expected return of a security is more guesswork than definite. So it could cause inaccuracy in the resultant expected return of the overall portfolio.

Examples of Expected Return Formula
Explanation of Expected Return Formula
- Expected Return can be defined as the probable return for a portfolio held by investors based on past returns or it can also be defined as an expected value of the portfolio based on probability distribution of probable returns. The expected return can be looked in the short term as a random variable which can take different values based on some distinct probabilities. This random varia…
Relevance and Uses of Expected Return Formula
- As mentioned above the Expected Return calculation is based on historical data and hence it has a limitation of forecasting future possible returns. Investors have to keep in mind various other factors and not invest based on the expected return calculated. Taking an example: – Portfolio A – 10%, 12%, -9%, 2%, 25% Portfolio B – 9%, 7%, 6%, 6%, 12% If we consider both the above portfol…
Conclusion
- Expected Return can be defined as the probable return for a portfolio held by investors based on past returns. As it only utilizes past returns hence it is a limitation and value of expected return should not be a sole factor under consideration by investors in deciding whether to invest in a portfolio or not. There are other measures that need to be looked at such as the portfolio’s varia…
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- This has been a guide to Expected Return formula. Here we discuss How to Calculate Expected Return along with practical examples. We also provide Expected Return Calculator with downloadable excel template. You may also look at the following articles to learn more – 1. Guide to Asset Turnover Ratio Formula 2. Guide to Bid Ask Spread Formula 3. How to Calculate Capaci…