Capital Asset Pricing Model and Arbitrage Pricing Theory:
Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) is an arithmetical theory that describes the relationship between risk and return in a balanced market. The Capital Assets Pricing Model was autonomously and simultaneously developed by William Sharpe, Jan Mossin, and John Litner. The researches of these founders were published in three different and highly respected journal articles between 1964 and 1966. Since its inception, the model has been used in various applications that range from public utility rates to corporate capital budgeting. However, the initial introduction of the model was characterized by suspicious view from the investment community. This was largely because CAPM apparently indicated that professional investment management was hugely a waste of time. Due to its implementation problems and shortcomings associated with its relation to Arbitrage Pricing Theory, Capital Asset Pricing Model has continued to face constant academic attacks.

Overview of Capital Asset Pricing Model:

Since….

Finance
There are three different models that can be used to estimate a company's cost of capital. Basically, each of these three is used to estimate the cost of equity. The cost of debt is usually calculated on the basis of the current weighted average of the yield to maturity on the company's debt. Thus, it is the cost of equity that must be calculated. The cost of equity reflects the return that the shareholders need to be paid in order for them to own the stock. This have given us three major approaches to calculating the cost of equity.

The first of these is the capital asset pricing model. The formula for this is:

Investopedia (2013)

The cost of equity therefore reflects three major components. The first is the risk free rate, which is inherent in all securities. The second is the market risk premium, which is added to the risk free rate….

The CAPM is useful to investors from two standpoints -- time value of money and the risk associated with the money invested. The time value of money is revealed by the free rate risk and represents the compensation investors will receive for having invested their money in the respective share, for a specific period of time. The risk of the investment is revealed by the second part of the formula -- beta x (expected market return -- risk free rate) -- and it unveils the compensation the investor should receive for making an investment with the given levels of risk involved. In achieving this desiderate, the Capital Asset Pricing Model assigns a beta, which helps compare the returns of the asset to the market, over the given time period, and to the market premium. Basically, "the CAPM says that the expected return of a security or a portfolio equals….

Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM)
Basically, a diversifiable risk can be taken to be that risk which is largely limited to a given sector or security. On the other hand, a risk which affects the entire assets or liabilities class is referred to as an un-diversifiable risk. While it is possible to eliminate or reduce a diversifiable risk through diversification, the same cannot be utilized when it comes to the elimination or reduction of an un-diversifiable risk.

A Substantial Unexpected Increase in Inflation

This can be classified under un-diversifiable risks. According to Huwawini & Viallet (2010), events that seem to impact on the entire economy are in most cases the sources of un-diversifiable risks. Inflation impacts on an entire economy and is hence an un-diversifiable risk. This risk cannot be minimized through diversifying a portfolio

A Major ecession in the U.S.

A downturn in economic activity is referred to as a recession. A recession is….

Finance
Assessing WalMart Cost of Equity

Cost of Equity Using CAPM

To calculate the cost of equity using the capital asset pricing model (CAPM), the equation requires collection of some data regarding the firm and the market. The equation tells us what data is needed, the equation is cost of equity = F + ?(M - F). F is the risk free rate, M is the return on a market portfolio, and ? is the beta.

The equation starts with the requirement to determine the risk free rate (F). The risk free rate is usually the current rate for government bonds. There is some flexibility here, as government bonds are issued over different periods, a common term used is the one year bond rates. The current rate given for 20th December 2013 is 0.13% (U.S. Department of Treasury, 2013).

The next input is the return on the market portfolio. This is assumed to be 5%.….

CAPM
The capital asset pricing model (CAPM)

The basic concept behind the capital asset pricing model (CAPM) is that when investors accept additional risk, they should be rewarded with greater compensation. The formula for the model is as follows:

(Image source: CAPM, 2013, Investopedia)

It should be noted that the CAPM is just that -- a model -- and certain artificial conditions are assumed to make the formula work, namely an absence of taxes and transaction costs like broker's fees; symmetrical knowledge of information and "identical investment horizons" for all investors; and finally that "all investors have identical opinions about expected returns, volatilities and correlations of available investments" (Capital asset pricing model, 2013, isk Encyclopedia). In the model, "the time value of money is represented by the risk-free (rf) rate in the formula and compensates the investors for placing money in any investment over a period of time. The other half of the formula….

Investopedia, a noteworthy financial website designed by Forbes Media and aiming to sustain investing decisions, defines the cost of equity as "the return that stockholders require for a company […]. A firm's cost of equity represents the compensation that the market demands in exchange for owning the asset and bearing the risk of ownership."
The CAPM equitation:

ra = rf + ?a x (rm - rf) (Investopedia)

In our scenario, the risk free rate is of 4.5, the risk of the security is of 0.5542 and the expected market return on the Coca Cola share is of 11. Given this situation, the cost of equity (ra) can be computed as follows: 4.5 + 0.5442 x 6.5 = 8.0373

3. Portfolio Beta

Knowing the risks associated with each investment in the portfolio, the beta of the portfolio can be computed by summing up the multiplications of each individual beta times the percentage of the respective….

CAPM
For each of the scenarios below, explain whether or not it represents a diversifiable or undiversifiable risk. Explain your reasoning a. It is announced that a company is under investigation from the federal government for fraudulent accounting practices.

This represents a diversifiable risk. This risk is unsystematic and is unique to the company that is under investigation. Hopefully, if this stock was part of a portfolio, the effect of this risk will be relatively small on the overall value of the portfolio.

A major terrorist attack occurs in the U.S. again.

A terrorist attack would be an undiversifiable risk. The consequences of the attack would ripple through the entire economy and would influence a large number of assets. This market risk is systematic and can't be eliminated by diversification.

c. A large increase in the price of oil.

Although this development might affect a range of stocks the risk is diversifiable. This news would definitely….

Finance
Any Asset Pricing Theory forms the basic foundation of finance theory, in that it deals with the value of any asset under unknown or uncertain circumstances. The relationship between an asset and its price is the mainstay of the asset pricing theory: the lower the price, the poorer the expected performance. The Arbitrage Pricing Theory derives from this theory. The basic idea in the APT theory is that any sort of risk in asset returns must not affect the pricing of the asset in any way; it must depend on the covariance of assets with the risk factors. (Bayesian Approach of the Arbitrage Pricing Theory) The APT originated from Stephen oss, 1976-1978. oss had used a statistical procedure for assets returns, with the belief that there are in existence no arbitrage probabilities. The APT must of necessity involve a lot of risk taking processes, (Definition of Arbitrage Pricing Theory.)

While CAPM,….

Investor Diversification
Some investment assets have a diversifiable risk and some have an undiversifiable risk involved. Diversifiable risk is specific to a particular security or sector, so its impact on a diversified portfolio is limited to that particular security (moneyterms.co.uk). For example, a financial crisis in a country can cause diversifiable risk on the investments pertaining to the financial institutions. Undiversifiable risk is the tendency of stock prices to decrease, which is caused by something that affects returns on all stock in the same manner, such as war or an interest rate change (Legal).

A substantial unexpected increase in inflation would be an undiversifiable risk because it is common to an entire class of assets or liabilities, or all the stock on the market. It is also considered a market risk or a systematic risk. The economy expects prices to rise slowly over a period of time. That goes along with the….

Return on Financial Assets
There are a number of factors that affect bond pricing. The basic bond pricing formula is as follows:

Investopedia

In this formula, the coupon payments, number of payments, interest rate and value at maturity are taken into consideration. The question at hand pertains to bonds that are the same in all characteristics except time to maturity and risk level. The risk of the bond will be reflected in the interest rate and the time to maturity will be reflected in the number of payments remaining on the bond. Initially, it is easy to make a couple of basic assessments. The corporate bond with AAA will be rated more highly than one with BBB. This places BBB (X bond) last. ith a lower time to maturity than bond , the third bond (Y) will have a lower yield to maturity, because the shorter time to maturity will result in lower….

CAPM
There are several different models that can be used to help determine the cost of capital for a company. Each is based on a model, and can be understood not only in terms of its formula but also in terms of its underlying assumptions. These assumptions will provide the foundation for the model, and will inform the financial manager about the strengths and weaknesses of each model. This report will outline in detail three such major models for determining the cost of capital. The first is the capital asset pricing model, known as CAPM. The second is the dividend discount model, and the third is arbitrage pricing theory.

The capital asset pricing model is the first of the three major models for determining the cost of capital. CAPM is widely used to determine the cost of equity in particular. The underlying theory of CAPM is that stock returns relative to risk….

Popular Cost of Equity Models: Problems and Potentials in Current Theory and Practice
It is important for any publicly traded business organization to understand and accurately estimate its cost of equity capital, in order to make effective capital-raising resource allocation decisions. There are several models for determining a supposedly accurate valuation for the current cost of equity capital for a given firm, however each of these models is imperfect in its approach and its ultimate assessment. The following pages provide an overview of three popular models for providing this valuation, assessing the models base don ease of use, accuracy of the prediction, and the degree to which the assumptions made or implied by the model are reflective of reality and actual operational capabilities. A final recommendation for a particular model is made following this assessment.

Ease of Use

One of the most straightforward methods for estimating the cost of equity capital, or….

CAPM
There are three models that can be used calculate the cost of capital for the firm. The first such model is the capital asset pricing model (CAPM). The CAPM formula is: E (rj )= RRF + b (RM - RRF). This means that the company's cost of capital is a function of the risk free rate, the market premium and the firm-specific risk. In CAPM, the firm-specific risk is based on the correlation of the company's stock price to the broader market, a statistic known as the beta.

Another method is the dividend growth model. In this model, the assumption is that a stock's value derives solely from the dividends that it is paying, or that investors assume it will pay in the future. It is assumed that investors will not pay for capital gains, because those are uncertain. The formula for the dividend growth model is:

source: Investopedia.

This model assumes that….

CAPM
There are three different models for estimating the cost of capital -- the capital asset pricing model (CAPM), dividend discount model and arbitrage pricing theory (APT). Of these, CAPM is the best model. CAPM utilizes the returns on the company's stock to calculate the firm's cost of equity. The underlying theory is that the firm's cost of capital should "equal the rate on a risk-free security plus a risk premium" (Investopedia, 2012). The risk premium is related to the return on the company's stock. Arbitrage pricing theory is similar, using the same formula but instead of equating risk with the market return on the company's stock vs. The broad market index, the return on the company's stock is compared to a basket of macroeconomic indicators (Pietersz, 2011). These are chosen by the user, and the correlations must be calculated by the user and the weightings of the different indicators also….