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What UNLEVERED BETA is and how to consider it when market goes down

✦ BETA is a measure of how a single security or a portfolio of securities changes value in relation to the market volatility, amplifying more or less the market/sector trends, in positive or negative.


⇘ Beta is LOW in some sectors like healthcare or utilities, since they do not vary much in respect to the changes in overall economy.


⟴ The Beta that’s usually given as information is the “Levered” Beta, which, as opposed to the “Unlevered”, takes into account all the capital structure of the company/organization, so it considers either debt and equity.


♢ UNLEVERED Beta does not consider debt: it removes any beneficial or unfavorable effects generated by the debt accumulation in the company’s balance sheet. It’s calculated as [ (Levered Beta) / (1+(1-tax rate)*(debt/equity)) ]


➠ There are pros and cons of this measure: you could benefit from it when analyzing the specific risk incurred for that equity investment; but in case that company is increasing debt and therefore the debt-to-equity ratio, you are not considering the portion of earnings intended to pay debt instead of being distributed or reinvested.


✓ Therefore, depending on the capital structure of the company, you could choose to invest in it, for example, if its Unlevered Beta is negative and the market/relative sector is expected to go down, and vice versa.

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