Exam 6: Risks and Rates of Return

Preston Inc.'s stock has a 25% chance of producing a 30% return, a 50% chance of producing a 12% return, and a 25% chance of producing a -18% return. What is the firm's expected rate of return?

For markets to be in equilibrium, that is, for there to be no strong pressure for prices to depart from their current levels,

If you plotted the returns on a given stock against those of the market, and if you found that the slope of the regression line was negative, the CAPM would indicate that the required rate of return on the stock should be greater than the risk-free rate for a well- diversified investor, assuming that the observed relationship is expected to continue into the future.

Stock A has a beta of 0.8, Stock B has a beta of 1.0, and Stock C has a beta of 1.2. Portfolio P has equal amounts invested in each of the three stocks. Each of the stocks has a standard deviation of 25%. The returns on the three stocks are independent of one another (i.e., the correlation coefficients all equal zero). Assume that there is an increase in the market risk premium, but the risk-free rate remains unchanged. Which of the following statements is CORRECT?

Assume that in recent years both expected inflation and the market risk premium (r_M − r_RF) have declined. Assume also that all stocks have positive betas. Which of the following would be most likely to have occurred as a result of these changes?

The risk-free rate is 6% and the market risk premium is 5%. Your $1 million portfolio consists of $700,000 invested in a stock that has a beta of 1.2 and $300,000 invested in a stock that has a beta of 0.8. Which of the following statements is CORRECT?

Which of the following statements is CORRECT?

The tighter the probability distribution of its expected future returns, the greater the risk of a given investment as measured by its standard deviation.

Assume that two investors each hold a portfolio, and that portfolio is their only asset. Investor A's portfolio has a beta of minus 2.0, while Investor B's portfolio has a beta of plus 2.0. Assuming that the unsystematic risks of the stocks in the two portfolios are the same, then the two investors face the same amount of risk. However, the holders of either portfolio could lower their risks, and by exactly the same amount, by adding some "normal" stocks with beta = 1.0.

According to the Capital Asset Pricing Model, investors are primarily concerned with portfolio risk, not the risks of individual stocks held in isolation. Thus, the relevant risk of a stock is the stock's contribution to the riskiness of a well-diversified portfolio.

Maxwell Inc.'s stock has a 50% chance of producing a 25% return, a 30% chance of producing a 10% return, and a 20% chance of producing a -28% return. What is the firm's expected rate of return?

Which of the following statements best describes what you should expect if you randomly select stocks and add them to your portfolio?

Any change in its beta is likely to affect the required rate of return on a stock, which implies that a change in beta will likely have an impact on the stock's price, other things held constant.

Stock A has a beta of 0.8 and Stock B has a beta of 1.2. 50% of Portfolio P is invested in Stock A and 50% is invested in Stock B. If the market risk premium (rM − rRF) were to increase but the risk-free rate (rRF) remained constant, which of the following would occur?

Bill Dukes has $100,000 invested in a 2-stock portfolio. $35,000 is invested in Stock X and the remainder is invested in Stock Y. X's beta is 1.50 and Y's beta is 0.70. What is the portfolio's beta?

Stock X has a beta of 0.7 and Stock Y has a beta of 1.3. The standard deviation of each stock's returns is 20%. The stocks' returns are independent of each other, i.e., the correlation coefficient, r, between them is zero. Portfolio P consists of 50% X and 50% Y. Given this information, which of the following statements is CORRECT?

Which of the following statements is CORRECT?

If you plotted the returns of a company against those of the market and found that the slope of your line was negative, the CAPM would indicate that the required rate of return on the stock should be less than the risk-free rate for a well-diversified investor, assuming that the observed relationship is expected to continue in the future.

Stock X has a beta of 0.5 and Stock Y has a beta of 1.5. Which of the following statements must be true, according to the CAPM?

Your portfolio consists of $50,000 invested in Stock X and $50,000 invested in Stock Y. Both stocks have an expected return of 15%, betas of 1.6, and standard deviations of 30%. The returns of the two stocks are independent, so the correlation coefficient between them, rXY, is zero. Which of the following statements best describes the characteristics of your 2-stock portfolio?