In: Finance
Two publicly traded companies are direct competitors. One has a beta of 1 and the other has a beta of 1.2. What is beta and how can I use this information as one component of stock evaluation? Compare the betas of two competing companies (you choose) and share the results and analysis
Answer:
Beta is the measure of systematic risk of a security or a
portfolio compared to the market.
If a stock moves more than the market, it will have a beta greater
than 1, and on the other hand, if a stock is less than the market,
it will have a beta less than 1.
Therefore, a beta of 1 indicates that the stock is in line with the
market which means it moves in the same way as the market moves. A
beta of 1.2 indicates that the stock moves more than the market
which means that the stock is more volatile than the market.
Therefore, on comparing both the betas, it can be said that the
company having a beta of 1.2 is more vollatile than that the market
as compared to the comapny having a beta of 1.