Investment portfolio is a composition of investments with the purpose, of maximizing return and minimizing risk. What individual investments would constitute the composition depends, in the first place, on the goals of the investment portfolio. One of the goal of the investment portfolio is return maximization. To achieve this, a choice of individual investment securities for inclusion in the portfolio is made and the return and risk of such individual investment securities are relevant inputs for investment portfolio construction. Thus, portfolio goal and return and risk of individual securities included in the portfolio are the inputs for investment portfolio construction. Read More: Portfolio investment process Portfolio construction phase in investment portfolio management Portfolio performance evaluation in investment portfolio management Portfolio selection and revision in investment portfolio management Portfolio analysis in investment portfolio management Security analysis phase in investment portfolio management Investment Portfolio Goals As investors differ like cornflakes, their portfolio Continue reading
Stock Investments
Diversification of Securities in Portfolio Investments
Reduction of Risk through Diversification of Securities The process of combining securities in an investment portfolio is known as diversification. The aim of diversification of securities is to reduce total risk without sacrificing portfolio return. To understand the mechanism and power of diversification, it is necessary to consider the impact of co-variance or correlation on portfolio risk more closely. We shall examine three cases: (1) when security returns are perfectly positively correlated, (2) when security returns are perfectly negatively correlated and (3) when security returns are not correlated. Diversification means, investment of funds in more than one risky asset with the basic objective of risk reduction. The lay man can make good returns on his investment by making use of technique of diversification. Main forms of Diversification of Securities Simple Diversification, Over Diversification, Efficient Diversification. 1. Simple Diversification It involves a random selection of portfolio construction. The common man could Continue reading
Different Types of Investment Portfolios
The set of all securities held by an investor is called his investment portfolio. The investment portfolio may contain just one security. However, since in general no one puts all one’s eggs in one basket, it will contain several securities. Such an investment portfolio is knows as a diversified portfolio. An investment portfolio can be classified in the light of following factors such as objectives, risk levels and the level of diversification. Investment Portfolios based on Objectives On the basis of objectives sought, a portfolio can be income portfolio, growth portfolio, mixed portfolio, tax savings portfolio or liquidity portfolio. In income portfolio, the objective is maximum current income. Small investors, investors whose current income needs are high like pensioners and unemployed persons, persons with lower tax brackets prefer income portfolios. Here the portfolio generally consist of fixed income securities like debenture/bonds/income mutual fund/equity with continuous dividend-record. Growth portfolio stress on Continue reading
The Cost of Equity Capital
Firms may raise equity capital internally by retaining earnings. Alternatively, they could distribute the entire earnings to equity shareholders and raise equity capital externally by issuing new shares. In both cases, shareholders are providing funds to the firms to finance their capital expenditures. Therefore, the equity shareholders required rate of return will be the same whether they supply funds by purchasing new shares or by foregoing dividends which could have been distributed to them. There is, however, a difference between retained earnings and issue of equity shares from the firm’s point of view. The firm may have to issue new shares at a price lower than the current market price. Also, it may have to incur flotation costs. Thus, external equity will cost more to the firm than, the internal equity. Is Equity Capital Free of Cost? It is sometimes argued that the equity capital is free of cost. The Continue reading
Classification of Equity Shares in Terms of Anticipated Earnings
In terms of the anticipated earnings of the companies, shares are generally classified on the basis of their market price in relation to one of the following measures: Price/Earnings Ratio is the price of a share divided by the earnings per share, and indicates what the investors are willing to pay for the company’s earning potential. Young and/or fast growing companies usually have high P/E ratios. Established companies in mature industries may have lower P/E ratios. The P/E analysis is sometimes supplemented with ratios such as Market Price to Book Value and Market Price to Cash Flow per share. Dividend Yield for a stock is the ratio of dividend paid per share to current market price. Low P/E stocks usually have high dividend yields. In India, at least in the past, investors have indicated a preference for the high dividend paying shares. What matters to fund managers is the potential Continue reading
Strategies of Futures Contracts
A futures contract is an agreement between two parties to buy or sell an asset at a certain time in the future at a certain price. Futures contracts are special types of forward contracts in the sense that the former are standardized exchange-traded contracts. Futures Trading Strategies We look here at some strategies of futures contracts. We refer to single stock futures. However since the index is nothing but a security whose price or level is a weighted average of securities constituting an index, all strategies that can be implemented using stock futures can also be implemented using index futures. Hedging: Long security, sell futures Speculation: Bullish security, buy futures Speculation: Bearish security, sell futures Arbitrage: Overpriced futures: buy spot, sell futures Arbitrage: Under-priced futures: buy futures, sell spot 1. Hedging: Long security, sell futures Futures can be used as an effective risk–management tool. Take the case of an investor Continue reading