If you're interested in Factor Therapeutics Limited (ASX:FTT), then you might want to consider its beta (a measure of share price volatility) in order to understand how the stock could impact your portfolio. Volatility is considered to be a measure of risk in modern finance theory. Investors may think of volatility as falling into two main categories. First, we have company specific volatility, which is the price gyrations of an individual stock. Holding at least 8 stocks can reduce this kind of risk across a portfolio. The second sort is caused by the natural volatility of markets, overall. For example, certain macroeconomic events will impact (virtually) all stocks on the market.
Some stocks are more sensitive to general market forces than others. Beta is a widely used metric to measure a stock's exposure to market risk (volatility). Before we go on, it's worth noting that Warren Buffett pointed out in his 2014 letter to shareholders that 'volatility is far from synonymous with risk.' Having said that, beta can still be rather useful. The first thing to understand about beta is that the beta of the overall market is one. A stock with a beta below one is either less volatile than the market, or more volatile but not corellated with the overall market. In comparison a stock with a beta of over one tends to be move in a similar direction to the market in the long term, but with greater changes in price.
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See our latest analysis for Factor Therapeutics
What FTT's beta value tells investors
Zooming in on Factor Therapeutics, we see it has a five year beta of 1.73. This is above 1, so historically its share price has been influenced by the broader volatility of the stock market. If this beta value holds true in the future, Factor Therapeutics shares are likely to rise more than the market when the market is going up, but fall faster when the market is going down. Beta is worth considering, but it's also important to consider whether Factor Therapeutics is growing earnings and revenue. You can take a look for yourself, below.
Does FTT's size influence the expected beta?
Factor Therapeutics is a rather small company. It has a market capitalisation of AU$4.2m, which means it is probably under the radar of most investors. It takes less money to influence the share price of a very small company. This may explain the excess volatility implied by this beta value.
What this means for you:
Since Factor Therapeutics tends to moves up when the market is going up, and down when it's going down, potential investors may wish to reflect on the overall market, when considering the stock. In order to fully understand whether FTT is a good investment for you, we also need to consider important company-specific fundamentals such as Factor Therapeutics’s financial health and performance track record. I highly recommend you dive deeper by considering the following: