July 2009 Archives
Jul 29, 2009
Q & A
John Cochrane* has suggested that the historical premiums for small cap and value stocks reflect "narrowly held risks" and that these premiums are likely to shrink in the future "until the markets have reached equilibrium, in which every investor has bought as much risk as he likes." Do you agree, and, if so, what are the implications for investors considering a small cap or value tilt in their portfolios?
*"Portfolio Advice for a Multifactor World", Economic Perspectives, Federal ResereveReserve Bank of Chicago, 1999
EFF/KRF: Cochrane offers this notion of narrowly held risks as one of several explanations for the size and value premiums. The premise is that until the last couple of decades, individual investors had limited access to diversified portfolios of small stocks and value stocks. As a result, the prices of small and value stocks were lower than they would be if all investors had easy access, and their expected returns were higher. The introduction and growth of mutual funds that invest in small-cap and value stocks would then reduce the expected returns on these securities.
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*"Portfolio Advice for a Multifactor World", Economic Perspectives, Federal ResereveReserve Bank of Chicago, 1999
Jul 27, 2009
Q & A
Firms often pay a substantial premium to the market price when making acquisitions. Does their willingness to pay a premium suggest the shares of target firms were mispriced?
EFF: The empirical evidence says that all the gains from mergers are eaten up in the premiums paid to acquire firms. On average, the acquiring firm gets nothing. This doesn't necessarily imply that the shares of the acquired firm were mispriced since there can be synergies (real business gains) from mergers. KRF: Takeover premiums do not imply that the target firms were mispriced. Since we do not expect the market to accurately forecast every acquisition that will create value, we should not be surprised that prices rise when tender offers and mergers are announced.
Jul 14, 2009
Videos
The answer depends on why stockholders want to leave the market. During the financial crisis, some investors discovered that their tolerance for risk is lower than they thought, so it might make sense for them to permanently reduce their exposure to equities. Investors who wish to avoid the price impact of the recession, however, are probably too late. Today's stock prices already reflect the anticipated effects of the slowdown, as well as any effects the recession has on expected future returns.
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Jul 8, 2009
Videos
Investors may doubt the usefulness of diversification after the recent market decline. In this video, Kenneth French explains that diversification cannot reduce the volatility of the overall market, but it is still important because it reduces the risk associated with individual firms or asset classes. He also discusses the perception that correlations between assets rise when market volatility is high.
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ABOUT FAMA AND FRENCH
Eugene F. Fama
The Robert R.
McCormick Distinguished
Service Professor of
Finance at the University
of Chicago Booth School
of Business
Kenneth R. French
The Roth Family Distinguished Professor of
Finance at the Tuck
School of Business at
Dartmouth College
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Dimensional Fund Advisors Ltd. is authorised and regulated in the United Kingdom by the Financial Services Authority (FRN: 150100), is registered in England and Wales under Company No. 02569601 and VAT No. 577327607. The registered office address of Dimensional Fund Advisors Ltd. is 7 Down Street, London, W1J 7AJ, United Kingdom. Dimensional Fund Advisors Ltd. is a subsidiary of Dimensional Fund Advisors.