The Beta β for the following stocks are presented for the period 2004- 2008 in the Table below.
see the "Monthly Adjusted Prices" spreadsheet-or from finance.yahoo.com. Refer to the useful Spreadsheet Functions box
near the end of Chapter 9 for information on Excel functions
Stock Beta Stock Beta
Amazon 2.16 Disney .96
Ford 1.75 Newmont .63
Dell 1.41 Exxon Mobil .55
Starbucks 1.16 Johnson & Johnson .50
Boeing 1.14 Campbell Soup .30
Download to a spreadsheet the last five years of monthly adjusted stock prices for each of the companies in Table and for the Standard & Poor's Composite Index (S&P 500).
a. Calculate the monthly returns.
b. Calculate beta for each stock using the Excel function SLOPE, where the "y" range refers
to the stock return (the dependent variable) and the "x" range is the market return (the
independent variable).
c. How have the betas changed from those reported in Table? Please comment on the 10 stocks.