Investments Lesson 2 Flashcards
Standard Deviation
Measure of risk & variability of returns
Total risk of undiversified portfolio (unsystematic)
1 standard deviation away will fall within __%
2 standard deviations away will fall within __?
3 standard deviations away will fall within __?
68%
95%
99%
Probability/Expected Return Formula
Sum of all (R x probability)
Coefficient of Variation
Which investment has more relative risk
Probability of experiencing return close to average return
CV = standard deviation / average return
Distribution of Returns:
Normal: considering range of investment returns
Lognormal: considering dollar amount of portfolio value at a point in time (looking for trend line or ending dollar amount)
Skewness: normal shifted left or right (commodities tend to be skewed)
Kurtosis
Variation of returns
Little variation: high peak/positive kurtosis
If returns high dispersed, low peak, negative kurtosis
Leptokurtic: high peak/fat tails (higher change of extreme events)
Platykurtic: low peak/thin tails (lower chance of extreme events)
Example Exam Question:
Noticed stock purchases tends to have very tight distribution around mean but seems to be high probability of outliers. This is most indicative of what type of curve?
A. Positive skewness
B. Leptokurtosis
C. Normal
D. Lognormal
B
Mean Variance Optimization
Process of adding risky securities to portfolio but keeping expected return the same. Balance of combining asset classes & provide lowest variance as measured by standard deviation
Monte Carlo Simulation
Gives a probabilistic distribution of events occurring
Adjusts assumptions & returns probability of an event occurring depending upon the assumption
Covariance
Measure of 2 securities & their interactive risk
“How price movements between 2 securities are related to each other”
Measure of relative risk
*formula provides
Correlation Coefficient
Measure movement of one security relative to that of another
Relative measure
Ranges from +1 to -1
1: perfectly positively correlated
0: completely uncorrelated
-1: perfectly negative correlation
Risk is reduced/diversification benefits are anytime correlation is less than 1
Example Exam Question:
When combining asset classes, investor receives diversification benefits when correlation is:
A. Equals -1 B. Less than 1 C. Less than 0 D. Less than or equal to 1 E. Equals 0
B
Beta
Measure of individual security’s volatility relative to that of the market
Volatility for diversified portfolio (systematic risk)
Beta of market is 1
Beta of 1 will mirror market
Beta of higher than 1: more risk
Beta of lower than 1: less risk
May also be calculated by dividing security risk premium by market risk premium
Example Exam Question:
When considering diversified portfolio, which is an appropriate measure of risk?
A. Standard deviation B. Beta C. Covariance D. Coefficient of determination E. Correlation coefficient
B
Coefficient of Determination (R-squared)
How much return is due to market
Calculate by squaring correlation coefficient
How well diversified a portfolio is - tells you if beta is appropriate
Example Exam Question:
Mutual fund has 5 year return of 12%, standard deviation of 15%. Beta of 1.4. Correlation of .90 to S&P 500. What percent of return from fund is due to S&P 500?
A. 90%
B. 81%
C. 19%
D. 10%
B
Example Exam Question:
Which mort appropriate benchmark for Sam to measure portfolio against?
Index 1: Beta .90, Std Dev 10%, r-squared .85%
Index 2: Beta 1.0, std dev 12% r-squared .89
Index 3: beta 1.5, std dev 15%, r-squared .95
A. 1 B. 2 C. 3 D. 1&2 E. 1&3
C
Portfolio Risk
Formula on exam
Systematic Risk
Lowest level of risk in fully diversified portfolio PRIME Purchasing Power Reinvestment Rare Interest Rate Market Exchange Rate
Unsystematic Risk
Risk that exists but could be eliminated through diversification ABCDEFG Accounting Business Country Default Executive Financial Government/Regulation
Example Exam Question:
Stock index funds & exchange traded fund that track market indices are subject to which risks?
A. Financial B. Business C. Systematic D. Unsystematic E. Diversifiable
C
Example Exam Question: Which are nondiversifiable risks? 1. Business 2. Management 3. Company or industry 4. Market 5. Interest rate 6. Purchasing power
A. 4,5,6 B. 1,2,3 C. 5,6,2 D. 1,3,4 E. 1,4,5
A
Modern Portfolio Theory:
Acceptance of given level of risk while maximizing expected return objectives
Efficient Frontier
Curve which illustrates best possible returns to be expected from all portfolios