WEB APPENDIX 8A: CALCULATING BETA COEFFICIENTS
1.
Which of the following statements is CORRECT?
a.
The CAPM is an ex ante model, which means that all of the variables should be historical values that can
reasonably be projected into the future.
b.
The beta coefficient used in the SML equation should reflect the expected volatility of a given stock’s return
versus the return on the market during some future period.
c.
The general equation: Y = a + bX + e, is the standard form of a simple linear regression where b = beta, and X
equals the independent return on an individual security being compared to Y, the return on the market, which is
the dependent variable.
d.
The rise-over-run method is not a legitimate method of estimating beta because it measures changes in an
individual security‘s return regressed against time.
2.
Given the following returns on Stock J and the “market“ during the last three years, what is the beta coefficient of
Stock J? (Hint: Think rise over run.)
a. 1.58
b. 1.66
c. 1.75
d. 1.84
e. 1.93
3.
Stock X and the “market” have had the following rates of returns over the past four years.
60% of your portfolio is invested in Stock X and the remaining 40% is invested in Stock Y. The risk-free rate is 6%
and the market risk premium is also 6%. You estimate that 14% is the required rate of return on your portfolio. What
is the beta of Stock Y?
a. 1.72
b. 1.91
c. 2.10
d. 2.31
e. 2.54