Exercise A3 - Answers
Exercise A3 - Answers
Due: June 16
PART 1 - BASIC
QUESTION 1
Suppose that there are two independent economic factors, F 1 and F 2. The risk-free
rate is 6%, and all stocks have independent firm-specific components with a standard
deviation of 45%. The following are well-diversified portfolios:
Portfolio
A
B
Beta on F 1
1.5
2.2
Beta on F 2
2.0
-0.2
Expected Return
31%
27%
QUESTION 2
Consider the following data for a one-factor economy. All portfolios are well
diversified.
Portfolio
A
F
E(r)
12%
6%
Beta
1.2
0.0
Suppose that another portfolio, portfolio E, is well diversified with a beta of .6 and
expected return of 8%. Would an arbitrage opportunity exist?
If so, what would be the arbitrage strategy?
The expected return for portfolio F equals the risk-free rate since its beta equals 0.
For portfolio A, the ratio of risk premium to beta is (12 6)/1.2 = 5
For portfolio E, the ratio is lower at (8 6)/0.6 = 3.33
This implies that an arbitrage opportunity exists. For instance, you can create a
portfolio G with beta equal to 0.6 (the same as Es) by combining portfolio A and
portfolio F in equal weights. The expected return and beta for portfolio G are then:
E(rG ) = (0.5 12%) + (0.5 6%) = 9%
G = (0.5 1.2) + (0.5 0%) = 0.6
Comparing portfolio G to portfolio E, G has the same beta and higher return.
Therefore, an arbitrage opportunity exists by buying portfolio G and selling an equal
amount of portfolio E. The profit for this arbitrage will be
rG rE =[9% + (0.6 F)] [8% + (0.6 F)] = 1%
QUESTION 3
Consider the following multifactor (APT) model of security returns for a particular
stock.
Factor
Inflation
Industrial production
Oil prices
Factor Beta
1.2
0.5
0.3
a. If T-bills currently offer a 6% yield, find the expected rate of return on this
stock if the market views the stock as fairly priced.
b. Suppose that the market expected the values for the three macro factors
given in column 1 below, but that the actual values turn out as given in column
2. Calculate the revised expectations for the rate of return on the stock once
the surprises become known.
Factor
Inflation
Industrial production
Oil prices
Question a.
E(r) = 6% + (1.2 6%) + (0.5 8%) + (0.3 3%) = 18.1%
Question b.
Surprises in the macroeconomic factors will result in surprises in the return of the
stock:
Unexpected return from macro factors =
[1.2 (4% 5%)] + [0.5 (6% 3%)] + [0.3 (0% 2%)] = 0.3%
QUESTION 4
Assume that both X and Y are well-diversified portfolios and the risk-free rate is
8%.
Portfolio
X
Y
Expected Return
16%
12%
Beta
1.00
0.25
PART 2 - INTERMEDIATE
QUESTION 5
Assume that it has been shown empirically that there are only two risk factors that
determine expected returns, F1 and F2. Assume, as well, that it is possible to model
the future according to five possible scenarios or states of nature, and that the
returns on assets X, Y and Z are as given in the following table, where you can also
find the returns on the respective portfolios associated to every risk factor,
and
2 :
State
Probability
Horrible
Bad
Average
Good
Excellent
20%
20%
20%
20%
20%
623.99
10.00
25.00
-3771.42
3237.44
53.00
413.37
-1493.12
1058.75
83.00
Returns on portfolios
associated to F1 & F2
-10.00
-5.00
25.00
40.00
50.00
-5.00
38.48
8.00
-1.44
0.00
Use APT forecast model (keep in mind that this model uses the excess
returns).
Verify that expected returns on assets X and Z coincide with the
prediction and that expected return on asset Y is greater than what the
APT model predicts (17%).
Build an arbitrage portfolio so as to invest more of the undervalued
asset Y, by selling some of asset X and asset Z. To do that, it is
necessary to write a three-equation system (zero investment and zero
systemic risk) that yields wX = -1/3; wY = 2/3; wZ = -1/3, namely,
positions on assets X and Z are closed and all the proceeds are
invested in asset Y.
This is the example in CWS book:
QUESTION 6
What is the arbitrage equilibrium price of asset C in the example below (statecontingent payoffs and prices)?
State 1
State 2
Price
4/3x5 + 1/12x4 = 7
Asset A
9
4
5
Asset B
0
8
4
Asset C
12
6
?
PART 3 - ADVANCED
This assignment does not include advanced questions.