Stock FAQs

what is stock beta

by Thaddeus Hill Published 3 years ago Updated 2 years ago
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Key Takeaways

  • Beta indicates how volatile a stock's price is in comparison to the overall stock market.
  • A beta greater than 1 indicates a stock's price swings more wildly (i.e., more volatile) than the overall market.
  • A beta of less than 1 indicates that a stock's price is less volatile than the overall market.

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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).Aug 21, 2021

Full Answer

How to easily calculate the beta of a stock?

Oct 06, 2021 · Beta is a statistical measure of a stock’s volatility that may in turn be used to determine how volatile a stock is in comparison to the rest of the market. In other words, the stock’s beta value suggests the extent of its volatility and measures the responsiveness of a stock’s price to changes in the market.

What factors determine the beta of a stock?

Jan 01, 2021 · Beta measures a stock's volatility, the degree to which its price fluctuates in relation to the overall stock market. In other words, it …

How do you calculate beta of stock?

The beta (β) of an investment security (i.e., a stock) is a measurement of its volatility of returns relative to the entire market. It is used as a measure of risk and is an integral part of the Capital Asset Pricing Model ( CAPM ). A company with a higher beta has greater risk and also greater expected returns.

What stock has the highest beta?

BETA in the share market is an indicator used by investors to assess the risk attached to a specific stock. It is a great way for investors to measure a stock’s volatility and ensure that they...

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What is a good beta for a stock?

Beta is a concept that measures the expected move in a stock relative to movements in the overall market. A beta greater than 1.0 suggests that the stock is more volatile than the broader market, and a beta less than 1.0 indicates a stock with lower volatility.

What does a stock beta of 1.5 mean?

Roughly speaking, a security with a beta of 1.5, will have move, on average, 1.5 times the market return. [More precisely, that stock's excess return (over and above a short-term money market rate) is expected to move 1.5 times the market excess return).]

Is a beta of 1 GOOD?

A beta of 1 indicates that the security's price tends to move with the market. A beta greater than 1 indicates that the security's price tends to be more volatile than the market. A beta of less than 1 means it tends to be less volatile than the market.

What does a stock beta of 0.5 mean?

For example, a beta of 0.5 implies that a stock's movements will theoretically be about 50% of the index's movements. A stock with a beta of more than one is more volatile than the overall index. For example, a beta of 2.0 implies that the stock will move twice as much as the market.May 19, 2016

What is the lowest beta stock?

Low Beta Dividend Stocks with High YieldsPhillips 66 Partners LP (NYSE:PSXP) Dividend Yield as of January 26: 8.18% ... Lumen Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:LUMN) ... Broadmark Realty Capital Inc. (NYSE:BRMK) ... DallasNews Corporation (NASDAQ:DALN) Dividend Yield as of January 26: 9.24% ... Chimera Investment Corporation (NYSE:CIM)Feb 7, 2022

What does a beta of 1.35 mean?

The beta for a stock describes how much the stock's price moves compared to the market. If a stock has a beta above 1, it's more volatile than the overall market. For example, if an asset has a beta of 1.3, it's theoretically 30% more volatile than the market.

Is higher beta good or bad?

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). Stocks with a beta of less than 1 have a smoother ride as their moves are more muted than the market's.Aug 21, 2021

What's a good PE ratio?

A higher P/E ratio shows that investors are willing to pay a higher share price today because of growth expectations in the future. The average P/E for the S&P 500 has historically ranged from 13 to 15. For example, a company with a current P/E of 25, above the S&P average, trades at 25 times earnings.

What does a beta of 0.6 mean?

Teva Pharmaceutical Industry's 2.49 beta, for example, indicates that the stock is expected to be more than twice as volatile than the market, while Intel's beta of 0.6 means the stock will typically move at a rate that's only about half that the broader market (data from Yahoo Finance, June 13, 2019).Mar 12, 2021

Can beta of a stock be negative?

Yes, beta can be negative. To see how and why, consider what beta measures: the risk added by an investment to a well diversified portfolio. By that definition, any investment that when added to a portfolio, makes the overall risk of the portfolio go down, has a negative beta.Feb 5, 2016

What does a beta of 10 mean in stocks?

That is, a 10% up or down move in the stock market index should theoretically result in a 10% up or down move in the stock. A beta of 2.0 implies the stock will tend to move twice as much as the market. That is, if the market moves up 10%, the stock should move up 20%.Oct 29, 2021

How beta of a stock is calculated?

Beta could be calculated by first dividing the security's standard deviation of returns by the benchmark's standard deviation of returns. The resulting value is multiplied by the correlation of the security's returns and the benchmark's returns.

What is beta in stocks?

What Is Beta? Beta is a measure of a stock's volatility in relation to the overall market. By definition, the market, such as the S&P 500 Index, has a beta of 1.0, and individual stocks are ranked according to how much they deviate from the market.

Why is beta important?

To followers of CAPM, beta is useful. A stock's price variability is important to consider when assessing risk. If you think about risk as the possibility of a stock losing its value, beta has appeal as a proxy for risk. Intuitively, it makes plenty of sense.

What is beta in CAPM?

Beta is a component of the capital asset pricing model (CAPM), which is used to calculate the cost of equity funding. The CAPM formula uses the total average market return and the beta value of the stock to determine the rate of return that shareholders might reasonably expect based on perceived investment risk.

What is risk in investing?

The well-worn definition of risk is the possibility of suffering a loss. Of course, when investors consider risk, they are thinking about the chance that the stock they buy will decrease in value. The trouble is that beta, as a proxy for risk, doesn't distinguish between upside and downside price movements. For most investors, downside movements are a risk, while upside ones mean opportunity. Beta doesn't help investors tell the difference. For most investors, that doesn't make much sense.

What does value investor mean?

A value investor would argue that a company represents a lower-risk investment after it falls in value —investors can get the same stock at a lower price despite the rise in the stock's beta following its decline.

Why does beta change over time?

A stock's beta will change over time because it compares the stock's return with the returns of the overall market. Benjamin Graham, the "father of value investing," and his modern advocates tried to spot well-run companies with a "margin of safety"—that is, an ability to withstand unpleasant surprises.

How to calculate beta?

The formula for calculating beta is the covariance of the return of an asset with the return of the benchmark divided by the variance of the return of the benchmark over a certain period.

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 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 is a statistical tool?

It is one single statistical tool that investors frequently use to assess the risk that the stock may add to their portfolio, allowing them to gauge the risk in both qualitative and quantitative terms and to assess the risk and rewards associated with the stock.

What does beta mean in stocks?

The beta is the number that tells the investor how that stock acts compared to all other stocks, or at least in comparison to the stocks that comprise a relevant index. Beta measures a stock's volatility, the degree to which its price fluctuates in relation to the overall stock market. In other words, it gives a sense of ...

Why is beta important for investing?

Every investor needs to have a good understanding of their own risk tolerance, and a knowledge of which investments match their risk preferences . Using beta to understand a security's volatility can help you choose the securities that meet your criteria for risk.

What does a beta of 1 mean?

A beta of 1 indicates that the security's price tends to move with the market. A beta greater than 1 indicates that the security's price tends to be more volatile than the market. A beta of less than 1 means it tends to be less volatile than the market.

What is the drawback of using beta?

The biggest drawback to using beta to make an investment decision is that beta is a historical measure of a stock's volatility. It can show you the pattern so far but it can't tell you what's going to happen in the future.

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.

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

What is the market value of debt?

Market Value of Debt The Market Value of Debt refers to the market price investors would be willing to buy a company's debt at, which differs from the book value on the balance sheet. . It is also commonly referred to as “equity beta” because it is the volatility of an equity based on its capital structure.

What is systemic risk?

Systemic Risk Systemic risk can be defined as the risk associated with the collapse or failure of a company, industry, financial institution or an entire economy. It is the risk of a major failure of a financial system, whereby a crisis occurs when providers of capital lose trust in the users of capital.

What is a CFI?

CFI is the official global provider of the Financial Modeling and Valuation Analyst (FMVA) Become a Certified Financial Modeling & Valuation Analyst (FMVA)® CFI's Financial Modeling and Valuation Analyst (FMVA)® certification will help you gain the confidence you need in your finance career. Enroll today!

What is a stock beta?

A stock beta is an assessment of a stock's tendency to undergo price changes, or its volatility. Volatility and returns larger than that seen on the open market results in a stock beta of greater than one. Stocks with a beta of 1.25, for example, are more prone to swings than the market used as a benchmark measure.

What does it mean when a stock has a high beta?

If a stock has a high beta, this also means that it is a riskier investment. People who bet on the wrong side of the volatility could take losses. When the value falls between zero and one, the stock is less excitable than the average market.

What degree does Mary have?

Mary has a liberal arts degree from Goddard College and spends her free time reading, cooking, and exploring the great outdoors.

Who is Mary McMahon?

Ever since she began contributing to the site several years ago, Mary has embraced the exciting challenge of being a SmartCapitalMind researcher and writer . Mary has a liberal arts degree from Goddard College and spends her free time reading, cooking, and exploring the great outdoors.

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What Is Beta?

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Beta is a measure of a stock's volatilityin relation to the overall market. By definition, the market, such as the S&P 500 Index, has a beta of 1.0, and individual stocks are ranked according to how much they deviate from the market. A stock that swings more than the market over time has a beta above 1.0. If a stock move…
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Calculating Beta

  • Beta is calculated using regression analysis. Numerically, it represents the tendency for a security's returns to respond to swings in the market. The formula for calculating beta is the covariance of the return of an asset with the return of the benchmarkdivided by the variance of the return of the benchmark over a certain period. Beta=CovarianceVariance\text{Beta} = \frac{\text…
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The Advantages of Beta

  • To followers of CAPM, beta is useful. A stock's price variability is important to consider when assessing risk. If you think about risk as the possibility of a stock losing its value, beta has appeal as a proxy for risk. Intuitively, it makes plenty of sense. Think of an early-stage technology stock with a price that bounces up and down more than the market. It's hard not to think that stock wil…
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The Disadvantages of Beta

  • If you are investing based on a stock's fundamentals, beta has plenty of shortcomings. For starters, beta doesn't incorporate new information. Consider a utility company: let's call it Company X. Company X has been considered a defensive stockwith a low beta. When it entered the merchant energy business and assumed more debt, X's historic beta no longer captured the …
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Assessing Risk

  • The well-worn definition of risk is the possibility of suffering a loss. Of course, when investors consider risk, they are thinking about the chance that the stock they buy will decrease in value. The trouble is that beta, as a proxy for risk, doesn't distinguish between upside and downsideprice movements. For most investors, downside movements are a risk, while upside ones mean oppor…
See more on investopedia.com

The Bottom Line

  • Ultimately, it's important for investors to make the distinction between short-term risk—where beta and price volatility are useful—and longer-term, fundamental risk, where big-picture risk factors are more telling. High betas may mean price volatility over the near term, but they don't always rule out long-term opportunities.
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