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Data Update 4 for 2024: Danger and Opportunity - Bringing Risk into the Equation!

Musings on Markets

Third, by making investing a choice between good (higher returns) and bad (higher risk), a message is sent, perhaps unwittingly, that risk is something to be avoided or hedged. Don't overthink the discount rate : One of my contentions of discount rates is that they cannot become receptacles for all your hopes and fears.

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Data Update 4 for 2022: Risk = Danger + Opportunity!

Musings on Markets

Investors all talk about risk, but there seems to be little consensus on what it is, how it should be measured, and how it plays out in the short and long term. In closing, I will talk about some of the more dangerous delusions that undercut good risk taking. What is risk?

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Country Risk: A 2022 Mid-year Update!

Musings on Markets

It has been my practice for the last two decades to take a detailed look at how risk varies across countries, once at the start of the year and once mid-year. Country Risk: Default Risk and Ratings For investors, the most direct measures of country risk come from measures of their capacity to default on their borrowings.

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Data Update 4 for 2021: The Hurdle Rate Question!

Musings on Markets

In this post, I will start by looking at the role that hurdle rates play in running a business, with the consequences of setting them too high or too low, and then look at the fundamentals that should cause hurdle rates to vary across companies. More on that issue in a future data update post.)

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Convertible Arbitrage Hedge Funds: The Perfect Combination of Investment Banking and Sales & Trading?

Brian DeChesare

But before delving into the best candidates for these roles, typical trades, careers, and more, let’s start with the basic definitions: What is a Convertible Arbitrage Hedge Fund? If the stock price goes up or down by 10%, but the volatility stays the same, you might not earn or lose anything on the trade.

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The Dividend Discount Model (DDM): The Black Sheep of Valuation?

Brian DeChesare

When I started offering financial modeling training , I never expected to get questions about a methodology like the Dividend Discount Model (DDM). It can be useful for certain companies, such as power and utility firms and midstream (pipeline) operators in oil & gas … …but it’s also much harder to set up and use than a standard DCF.

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Data Update 5 for 2024: Profitability - The End Game for Business?

Musings on Markets

In my last three posts, I looked at the macro (equity risk premiums, default spreads, risk free rates) and micro (company risk measures) that feed into the expected returns we demand on investments, and argued that these expected returns become hurdle rates for businesses, in the form of costs of equity and capital.

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