Conditional Beta Model for Asset Pricing By Sector in the U.S. Equity Markets
By Yuci Zhang
In nance, the beta of an investment is a measure of the risk arising from exposure to general market movements as opposed to idiosyncratic factors. Therefore, reliable estimates of stock portfolio betas are essential for many areas in modern nance, including asset pricing, performance evaluation, and risk management. In this paper, we investigate Static and Dynamic Conditional Correlation (DCC) models for estimating betas by testing them in two asset pricing context, the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) and Fama-French Three Factor Model. Model precision is evaluated by utilizing the betas to predict out-of-sample portfolio returns within the aforementioned asset-pricing framework. Our findings indicate that DCC-GARCH does consistently have an advantage over the Static model, although with a few exceptions in certain scenarios.
Advisor: Andrew Patton, Michelle Connolly | JEL Codes: C32, C51, G1, G12, G17 | Tagged: Beta, Asset Pricing, Dynamic Correlation, Equity, U.S. Markets
Auctions as an Alternative to Book Building in the IPO Process: An Examination of Underpricing for Large Firms in France
By John Mekjian
A relevant factor in determining the quality of an initial public offering (IPO) mechanism is the level and variability of underpricing that occurs. The percentage difference between the IPO price and the closing price after one day of trading is a common way to define the “underpricing” of the stock. Although companies may value a small amount of positive underpricing, they certainly want this to be controlled. Both extreme positive and extreme negative underpricing are undesirable for a company. Building off of a paper that found a lower mean and variability of underpricing for firms that use the auction IPO mechanism as opposed to the book building IPO mechanism, this paper argues that auctions are not disadvantaged when only large firms are considered. Although this paper finds that the book building mechanism controls underpricing better than the auction mechanism, the advantage disappears when considering only large firms. This analysis is relevant because, aside from two companies, only small companies have used the auction IPO mechanism in the United States. Due to the lack of auction IPOs in the United States, this paper uses French data in its analysis. By showing that large firms using the auction mechanism are not disadvantaged when compared to large firms using the book building mechanism, this paper attempts to encourage large firms in the United States to consider using the auction method for their IPOs.
Advisor: James Roberts, Marjorie McElroy | JEL Codes: G12, G14, G20, G30 | Tagged: Auction, IPO, Underpricing
A Further Exploration of Reverse Takeovers as an Alternative to Initial Public Offerings
By Matt LoSardo and Zhunliang Zhu
In theory a reverse takeover (RTO) should be a viable alternative to initial public offerings (IPO) for private companies looking to access the public capital markets. Since the IPO process can be very timely and include significant costs, both direct and indirect, we analyze reverse takeovers as an alternative method. Recent papers have posed some similar questions, evaluating underpricing and market-timing, which we look to confirm. However, our paper seeks to build on these analyses, with a particular focus on long-term returns for RTO stocks. Overall we find that reverse takeovers can be successfully used instead of IPOs and should be sustainable long-term investments.
Advisor: Edward Tower, Marjorie McElroy | JEL Codes: G12, G24, G32, G34 | Tagged: Finance, Initial Public Offering, Reverse Takeover
