Your friend is considering adding one additional stock to a 3-stock portfolio, to form a 4-stock portfolio. She is highly risk averse and has asked for your advice. The three stocks currently held all have b = 1.0, and they are perfectly positively correlated with the market. Potential new Stocks A and B both have expected returns of 15%, are in equilibrium, and are equally correlated with the market, with r = 0.75. However, Stock A's standard deviation of returns is 12% versus 8% for Stock B. Which stock should this investor add to his or her portfolio, or does the choice not matter?

Question

Business

Haylie Gonzalez

30 June, 04:07

Your friend is considering adding one additional stock to a 3-stock portfolio, to form a 4-stock portfolio. She is highly risk averse and has asked for your advice. The three stocks currently held all have b = 1.0, and they are perfectly positively correlated with the market. Potential new Stocks A and B both have expected returns of 15%, are in equilibrium, and are equally correlated with the market, with r = 0.75. However, Stock A's standard deviation of returns is 12% versus 8% for Stock B. Which stock should this investor add to his or her portfolio, or does the choice not matter?

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Answers (1)

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Carrillo · Answer 1

Stock B

Explanation:

Either A or B, have the same beta. Nevertheless, the standard deviation of stock A is higher, which implies a more risky and unstable performance. Considering this, I would advice her to choose the stock B, with less standard deviation.