Chapter 6: Risk and Return Flashcards
Intrinsic value of a company
Preset value of it’s expected future free cash flows discounted at the weighted average cost of capital
all else holding equal higher risk increases WACC (reducing the firm’s overall value)
risk aversion
a higher level of risk aversion leads an investor to require a higher rate of return as inducement to buy riskier securities
Dollar return
= amount to be received less amount invested
not very meaningful
- need to know scale of investment and timing of return to know if return was good
Rates of return
= dollar return / amount invested
standardizes the dollar return to consider annual return per unit of investment
Risk
“Exposure to an unfavorable event”
analyzed in two ways for asset risk
- considering each asset in isolation
- as part of a collection of assets (portfolio)
Asset’s stand-alone risk
Risk an investor would face if they held only this one asset
Discrete probability distribution
a list of all possible events/ outcomes, with a probability assigned to each event (total probabilities must sum to 100%)
can be used to calculate expected risk and return
Payoff matrix
Shows the various potential scenarios and lists the:
- probability of the scenario
- market rate of return given the scenario
- expected return (probability x return)
- standard deviations:
- deviation from expected return (market rate -1)
- Squared deviation
- probability of scenario x squared deviation
sum of this last one = variance
Weighted average of outcomes
sum of all (possible outcomes * probability of occurrence)
R-hat
r
expected rate of return
mean of the probability distribution
= sum of all (probability potential outcome * return if outcome returns)
measure of tightness of probability distribution
standard deviation (represented by signma)
larger = wider dispersal from expected value
Calculating standard deviation
square root of sum of all (probability of occurrence * (deviation between expected rate and possible outcome rate squared)
Variance is the calculation before taking the square root
standard deviation gives an idea of how far above or below the expected value an actual value is likely to be
SAMPLE standard deviation denoted by s
Continuous probability distributions
probability distributions that have an infinite number of possible outcomes, often shown as a curve. Area under the curve must = 100%. can only show the probability that an outcome will be between two outcomes, less than or equal to or greater than or equal to.
more used than discrete distribution
normal distribution often used
common to use historical data to estimate standard deviation
normal distribution
bell-shaped, symmetrical continuous probability distribution
actual return will be within +/- 1 standard deviation of the expected return 68.26% of the time
use of historic data to estimate standard deviation
historical standard deviation may be used as an estimate of future variability (variability often repeated)
it is INCORRECT to use the historic average return to estimate expected rate of return
annualize monthly standard deviation
multiply the monthly standard deviation by the square root of 12
historic trade off between risk and return
highest average returns also have highest standard deviations (widest ranges of returns)
Weight of an asset in a portfolio
the percentage of the portfolio’s total value that is invested in that asset
weight more meaningful than dollar value
total weights sum to 1
Actual return on a portfolio for a particular period
weighted average of the actual return in the stocks in the portfolio
= sum of all (weight * return) for each stock
Average portfolio return over a number of period
weighted average of the stock’s average return
= sum of all (weight * average return) for each investment
why might adding a risky asset to a safer asset reduce risk
(combined portfolio standard deviation lower than the less risky asset’s standard deviation)
changes in returns balance out
Correlation
tendency of two variables to move together
measured by the correlation coefficient
range from +1 (two variables move in perfect sych) to -1 (two variables move in directly opposite directions). 0 means variables are completely independent
Estimating correlation from sample data
called “R”
sum of all (actual return stock 1- average return stock 1) * (actual return for stock 2 - average return for stock 2)
DIVIDED BY
square root of (sum of all (actual return stock 1- average return stock 1) squared) *(sum of all (actual return for stock 2 - average return for stock 2)squared)
CORREL in excel
negative correlation = moving in opposite directions
correlation and the benefits of diversification
if returns for stocks have a negative correlation investing in both may reduce volatility of the portfolio (makes portfolio’s standard deviation less than the weighted average of the individual stock’s standard deviation)
zero risk portfolio
where correlation between stock 1 and 2 is -1 such that the deviations from the mean completely cancel each other out.
expected return = weighted average of stock’s expected return
Correlation and risk
- for correlation between -1 and +1 the porfolio’s standard deviation is less than the weighted average of the stock’s standard deviation
effects of portfolio size on portfolio risk for average stocks
The risk of a portfolio consisting of stocks declines (approaching a limit which is market risk) as the number of stocks in the portfolio increases.
market portfolio
a portfolio consisting of all shares of all stocks
Market risk
stock risk that can not be eliminated even with a well diversified portfolio
risk remaining after diversification: nondiversifiable or systematic risk
measured by the beta coefficient (beta risk)
stems from factors that affect most firms (war, inflation, recession, interest rates)
Diversifiable risk
that part of a security’s total risk that is associated with random events not affecting the market as a whole. Risk that can be eliminated by diversification
aka company specific risk - from events that are unique to a particular firm and “random” so far as the portfolio is concerned
importance of diversification
“Almost half of the risk inherent in an average individual stock can be eliminated if the stock is held in a reasonably well- diversified portfolio, which is one containing 40 or more stocks in a number of different industries.
Capital asset pricing model
CAPM
one way to measure the risk of an individual stock
based on the proposition that any stock’s required rate of return is equal to the risk-free rate of return plus a risk premium reflecting only the risk remaining after diversification
[ ] = items in subscript
r[i] = r[RF]+b[i] (r[M] - r[RF])
relevant risk
the relevant risk of a stock is it’s contribution to a well-diversified portfolio’s risk (much smaller than stand-alone risk)
Relevant risk of an individual stock per CAPM
the amount of risk the stock contributes to the market portfolio (containing all stock)
Beta coefficient
measure of risk
beta coefficient for stock i = ( standard deviation of stock i’s return / standard deviation of the market’s return) * correlation between stock i’s return at the market return
estimated using past data (4-5 years of monthly data or 52 weeks of weekly data)
Estimate may vary by analyst - analysts may calculate their own or average published betas
proper measure of relevant risk in a well-diversified portfolio
beta coefficient meaning
stock with a high deviation will tend to have a high beta: other things held constant the stock contributes a lot of risk to a well diversified portfolio (destabilizes)
a stock with a high correlation with the market will also tend to have a large beta; be risky (high correlation does not help diversification)
beta of a portfolio
the weighted average of the beta values of all the stocks in the portfolio (weighted by the proportion of the stock)
= sum of all (weight of stock * beta of stock)
variance and beta relationship
variance of a well diversified portfolio is approximately equal to the product of its squared beta and the market’s variance