Investment Management

Diversification of Risk in Portfolio Management

Average investors are risk averse. Therefore, they will be ready to invest into securities under the presumption of an adequate compensation for risk taking. The compensation for the risk taken should be in the form of minimal rate of return for the invested financial assets, and the rate is named the required rate of return. It has two components:

  • Delayed consumption compensation (investors could have purchased goods and services with the assets they are to invest) and
  • Risk acceptance compensation.

Diversification is used to stabilize the potential return, and thus increase the value of the investment. Diversification stands for he investment of capital into several different securities or projects, all together called the portfolio.… Read the rest

Abey Francis

Different Types of Stock Beta

Beta coefficient is a comparative measure of how the stock performs relative to the market as a whole.  It is determined by plotting the stock’s and market’s returns at discrete intervals over a period of time and fitting (regressing) a line through the resulting data points. The slope of that line is the levered equity beta. When the slope of the line is 1.00, the returns of the stock are no more or less volatile than returns on the market. When the slope exceeds 1.00, the stock’s returns are more volatile than the market’s returns.  The beta coefficient is a key component for the  Capital Asset Pricing Model  (CAPM), which describes the relationship between risk and expected return  and  that is used in the pricing of risky securities.… Read the rest

Abey Francis

The Role of Portfolio Management in an Efficient Market

You have learned that a basic principle in portfolio management is the  diversification of securities. Even if all stocks are priced fairly, each still poses firm-specific risk that can be eliminated through diversification. Therefore, rational security selection, even in an efficient market, calls for the selection of a well-diversified portfolio, providing the systematic risk level that the investor wants. Even in an efficient market investors must choose the risk-return profiles they deem appropriate.

The efficient market hypothesis (EMH) states that a market is efficient if security prices immediately and fully reflect all available relevant information.   If the market fully reflects information, the knowledge of that information would not allow an investor to profit from the information because stock prices already incorporate the information.  … Read the rest

Abey Francis

Modern Portfolio Theory – Markowitz Portfolio Selection Model

Markowitz Portfolio Theory

Harry Markowitz developed a theory, also known as Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT) according to which we can balance our investment by combining different securities, illustrating how well selected shares portfolio can result in maximum profit with minimum risk. He proved that investors who take a higher risk can also achieve higher profit. The central measure of success or failure is the relative portfolio gain, i.e. gain compared to the selected benchmark.

Modern portfolio theory is based on three assumptions about the behavior of investors who:

  • wish to maximize their utility function and who are risk averse,
  • choose their portfolio based on the mean value and return variance,
  • have a single-period time horizon.
… Read the rest
Abey Francis

Bancassurance – Meaning, Need and Advantages

With the opening up of the insurance sector and with so many players entering the Indian insurance industry, it is required by the insurance companies to come up with innovative products, create more consumer awareness about their products and offer them at a competitive price. New entrants in the insurance sector had no difficulty in matching their products with the customers’ needs and offering them at a price acceptable to the customer. But, insurance not being an off the shelf product and one which requiring personal counseling and persuasion, distribution posed a major challenge for the insurance companies. Further insurable population of over one billion spread all over the country has made the traditional channels of the insurance companies costlier.… Read the rest

Abey Francis

Effective Communications in Investor Relations

Corporations worldwide work daily to increase the value of their stock for the investing public. In order to exploit this value, businesses must constantly make every effort to extensively communicate to their investors and potential investors. In view of this, investor relations are a vital part of business strategy, principally in the area of communication. Corporate departments involved with investor directions must make a necessary connection between efficient communication and company goals. Since communication is starting to play such an important role in investor relations, corporate communication programs are being created not only to participate in financial areas, but also to take part in media relations and other public communication.… Read the rest

Abey Francis