Scenario:

You are considering an investment in either individual stocks or a portfolio of stocks. The two stocks you are researching, Stock A and Stock B$,$

have the following historical returns:

$1.$ calculate the average rate of return for each stock during the five$-$year. Period.

$2.$ suppose you had held a portfolio consisting of $50\%$ of stock a and $50\%$ of stock B what would have been $?$the realized rate of return on the portfolio in each year what would've been the average return on the portfolio during this?

$3.$ calculate the standard deviation of returns for each stock and for the portfolio.

$4.$ Suppose you are a risk averse investor assuming stocks a and B are your only choices would you prefer to hold stock a stock B or the portfolio and why?