Exam 8: Risk and Rates of Return

Bob has a $50,000 stock portfolio with a beta of 1.2, an expected return of 10.8%, and a standard deviation of 25%. Becky also has a $50,000 portfolio, but it has a beta of 0.8, an expected return of 9.2%, and a standard deviation that is also 25%. The correlation coefficient, r, between Bob's and Becky's portfolios is zero. If Bob and Becky marry and combine their portfolios, which of the following best describes their combined $100,000 portfolio?

Which of the following statements is CORRECT?

Bad managerial judgments or unforeseen negative events that happen to a firm are defined as "company-specific," or "unsystematic," events, and their effects on investment risk can in theory be diversified away.

Stock HB has a beta of 1.5 and Stock LB has a beta of 0.5. The market is in equilibrium, with required returns equaling expected returns. Which of the following statements is CORRECT?

Which of the following statements is CORRECT?

Someone who is risk averse has a general dislike for risk and a preference for certainty. If risk aversion exists in the market, then investors in general are willing to accept somewhat lower returns on less risky securities. Different investors have different degrees of risk aversion, and the end result is that investors with greater risk aversion tend to hold securities with lower risk (and therefore a lower expected return) than investors who have more tolerance for risk.

Company A has a beta of 0.70, while Company B's beta is 1.20. The required return on the stock market is 11.00%, and the risk-free rate is 4.25%. What is the difference between A's and B's required rates of return? (Hint: First find the market risk premium, then find the required returns on the stocks.)

We would generally find that the beta of a single security is more stable over time than the beta of a diversified portfolio.

Cheng Inc. is considering a capital budgeting project that has an expected return of 25% and a standard deviation of 30%. What is the project's coefficient of variation?

Jim Angel holds a $200,000 portfolio consisting of the following stocks: What is the portfolio's beta?

An individual stock's diversifiable risk, which is measured by its beta, can be lowered by adding more stocks to the portfolio in which the stock is held.

Even if the correlation between the returns on two securities is +1.0, if the securities are combined in the correct proportions, the resulting 2-asset portfolio will have less risk than either security held alone.

The realized return on a stock portfolio is the weighted average of the expected returns on the stocks in the portfolio.

Market risk refers to the tendency of a stock to move with the general stock market. A stock with above-average market risk will tend to be more volatile than an average stock, and its beta will be greater than 1.0.

Which of the following statements is CORRECT?

Data for Dana Industries is shown below. Now Dana acquires some risky assets that cause its beta to increase by 30%. In addition, expected inflation increases by 2.00%. What is the stock's new required rate of return?

Roenfeld Corp believes the following probability distribution exists for its stock. What is the coefficient of variation on the company's stock?

Because of differences in the expected returns on different investments, the standard deviation is not always an adequate measure of risk. However, the coefficient of variation adjusts for differences in expected returns and thus allows investors to make better comparisons of investments' stand-alone risk.

Consider the following information for three stocks, A, B, and C. The stocks' returns are positively but not perfectly positively correlated with one another, i.e., the correlations are all between 0 and 1. Portfolio AB has half of its funds invested in Stock A and half in Stock B. Portfolio ABC has one third of its funds invested in each of the three stocks. The risk-free rate is 5%, and the market is in equilibrium, so required returns equal expected returns. Which of the following statements is CORRECT?

The CAPM is built on historic conditions, although in most cases we use expected future data in applying it. Because betas used in the CAPM are calculated using expected future data, they are not subject to changes in future volatility. This is one of the strengths of the CAPM.