You've just begun work at the brokerage firm of Dewey, Cheatam, and Howe as a stock analyst. This morning you read an article in the paper that said a large-scale reduction in defense spending is eminent. Fred Fastbuck, a broker at the firm, has several clients who are elderly retirees. You recently learned that he's actively putting those clients into several defense industry stocks he describes as low risk. Fred has told you that he feels the stocks are low risk because they have betas of 1.0 or less. How would you advise Fred? Consider the real meaning of beta and its constancy over time.