Is beta a measure of unsystematic risk?
Michael Gray
Updated on February 11, 2026
Types of Beta Values A stock with a beta of 1.0 has systematic risk. However, the beta calculation can’t detect any unsystematic risk. Adding a stock to a portfolio with a beta of 1.0 doesn’t add any risk to the portfolio, but it also doesn’t increase the likelihood that the portfolio will provide an excess return.
What does a beta score of 1 mean?
A beta of 1 indicates that the security’s price tends to move with the market. A beta greater than 1 indicates that the security’s price tends to be more volatile than the market. A beta of less than 1 means it tends to be less volatile than the market. Many utility sector stocks have a beta of less than 1.
What does a beta of 1.0 mean?
Beta is a measure of a stock’s volatility in relation to the overall market. By definition, the market, such as the S&P 500 Index, has a beta of 1.0, and individual stocks are ranked according to how much they deviate from the market. If a stock moves less than the market, the stock’s beta is less than 1.0.
How do you calculate unsystematic beta?
The market risk is calculated by multiplying beta by standard deviation of the Sensex which equals 4.39% (4.89% x 0.9). The third and final step is to calculate the unsystematic or internal risk by subtracting the market risk from the total risk. It comes out to be 13.58% (17.97% minus 4.39%).
What is the formula for calculating beta?
Beta could be calculated by first dividing the security’s standard deviation of returns by the benchmark’s standard deviation of returns. The resulting value is multiplied by the correlation of the security’s returns and the benchmark’s returns.
How does a beta of 1 reflect systematic risk?
A beta of 1 indicates that the portfolio will move in the same direction, have the same volatility and is sensitive to systematic risk. A beta greater than 1 indicates that the portfolio will move in the same direction as the market, with a higher magnitude, and is very sensitive to systematic risk.
How is the beta of a security calculated?
If you want to know the systematic risk of your portfolio, you can calculate its beta. Beta effectively describes the activity of a security’s returns as it responds to swings in the market. A security’s beta is computed by dividing the product of the covariance of the security’s returns and the market’s returns by the variance …
What is the formula for calculating unsystematic risk?
This way, you mitigated the unsystematic risk which gripped few companies such as Citibank, Ford, and Berkshire Hathaway because of some internal issue in them. Let us see the formula used to calculate unsystematic risk now. Unsystematic risk is represented by a firm’s beta coefficient.
What does it mean when a beta is less than 1?
A negative beta (i.e., less than 0) indicates that it moves in the opposite direction of the market and that there is a negative correlation with the market. A beta between 0 and 1 signifies that it moves in the same direction as the market, but with less volatility—that is, smaller percentage changes—than the market as a whole.