1. Assume that your uncle holds just one stock, East Coast Bank (ECB), which he thinks has very little risk. You agree that the stock is relatively safe, but you want to demonstrate that his risk would be even lower if he were more diversified. You obtain the following returns data for West Coast Bank (WCB). Both banks have had less variability than most other stocks over the past 5 years.

Year ECB WCB

2004 40.00% 40.00%

2005 -10.00% 15.00%

2006 35.00% -5.00%

2007 -5.00% -10.00%

2008 15.00% 35.00%

a. What is the expected return and risk of each stock?

b. Measured by the standard deviation of returns, by how much would your uncle's risk have been reduced if he had held a portfolio consisting of 60% in ECB and the remainder in WCB? In other words, what is the difference between portfolio's standard deviation and weighted average of components' standard deviations? (Hint: check the example on page 11-12 on my note).

2. Carson Inc.'s manager believes that economic conditions during the next year will be strong, normal, or weak, and she thinks that the firm's returns will have the probability distribution shown below. What's the standard deviation of the estimated returns? (Hint: Use the formula for the standard deviation of a population, not a sample.)

Economic

Conditions Prob. Return

Strong 30% 32.0%

Normal 40% 10.0%

Weak 30% -16.0%

3. Company A has a beta of 0.70, while Company B's beta is 1.20. The required return on the stock market is 11.00%, and the risk-free rate is 4.25%. What is the difference between A's and B's required rates of return? (Hint: First find the market risk premium, then find the required returns on the stocks.)

4. Mike Flannery holds the following portfolio:

Stock Investment Beta

A $150,000 1.40

B 50,000 0.80

C 100,000 1.00

D 75,000 1.20

What is the portfolio's beta?