Topic - 4, Portfolio Expected Return
Topic - 4, Portfolio Expected Return
Topic - 4, Portfolio Expected Return
Portfolio Concepts
Mean-Variance Analysis
• Mean–variance portfolio theory is based
on the idea that the value of investment
opportunities can be meaningfully
measured in terms of mean return and
variance of return.
Assumptions of the Model
1. All investors are risk averse; they prefer less risk
to more for the same level of expected return.
2. Expected returns for all assets are known.
3.The variances and covariances of all asset
returns are known.
4. Investors need only know the expected returns,
variances, and covariances of returns to
determine optimal portfolios.
5. There are no transaction costs or taxes.
Minimum Variance Frontier
• An investor’s objective in using a mean–
variance approach to portfolio selection is
to choose an efficient portfolio.
– An efficient portfolio is one offering the
highest expected return for a given level of
risk as measured by variance or standard
deviation of return.
– Portfolios that have the smallest variance for
each given level of expected return are called
minimum-variance portfolios.
Portfolio Expected Return
• The expected return for a portfolio is the
weighted average of the expected returns
of the securities in the portfolio.
E ( R P ) w 1E ( R 1 ) w 2 E ( R 2 ) w n E ( R n )
Portfolio Variance
• Although it might seem reasonable for the variance of a
portfolio to be the weighted average of the variances of
the securities in the portfolio, this is incorrect.
• Portfolio variance consists of the variances of the
individual securities, but must also consist of a factor that
measures the interaction of each pair of securities.
• Intuitively, if two risky securities are held in a portfolio,
but Security A tends to do well when Security B does
poorly, and vice versa, a portfolio of the two securities
will have less risk.
– we can account for the relationship between each pair of
securities by using the covariance or the correlation.
– Even though both assets are risky, a combination of the two will
create a portfolio that is less risky than each of its components.
• If we plot two assets in risk/expected return space we
get :
Negative Correlation
Return
A
Time
Minimum Variance Frontier: Large Cap
Stocks & Government Bonds
Minimum Variance Frontier for Varied
Correlations
Portfolio Risk for a Two-Asset Case
n
E(R P ) w jE(R j )
j1
n n
2P w i w jCov(R i , R j )
i 1 j1
w
j1
j 1
Example
• Given the information in Table 11-1, find
the expected return and variance for a
portfolio consisting of 40% in large-cap
stocks and 60% in government bonds.
Example
E ( R P ) w 1E ( R 1 ) w 2 E ( R 2 )
.40(15%) .60(5%)
9%
E(R M R F )
E(R P ) R F P
M
E (R i ) R F i [E (R M ) R F ]
Var ( R i ) i2 2i
Cov ( R i R j ) i j 2
M
Multifactor Models
R i a i b i1F1 b i 2 F2 ... b iK FK i
Asset selection
K
b aj b ia Cov(Fj , Fi )
FMCAR j i 1
Active risk squared
Creating a Tracking Portfolio
• In a risk-controlled active or enhanced
index strategy, the portfolio manager may
attempt to earn a small incremental return
relative to the benchmark while controlling
risk by matching the factor sensitivities of
the portfolio to her benchmark.
• A tracking portfolio is a portfolio having
factor sensitivities that are matched to
those of a benchmark or other portfolio.