Low Beta Stocks

Beta is the result of a calculation that measures the relative volatility of a stock in correlation to a particular standard. For U.S. stocks that standard is usually, but not always, the S&P 500. Beta is a form of regression analysis and it can be useful for investors regardless of their risk tolerance. Beta is considered one of the few data points that can be beneficial for practitioners of fundamental analysis and technical analysis. This page lists stocks that have unusually low beta calculations, meaning there is little correlation between the price moves of these stocks and the S&P 500. Learn more.

Company	Beta	PE Ratio	Market Cap	Current Price	Price Change	Volume	Average Volume	Indicator(s)
GETVY Mediaset Espana Comunicacion	0.01	25.00	$4.63 billion	$13.75	flat	0	167	Upcoming Earnings
CCOI Cogent Communications	0.05	133.40	$2.68 billion	$57.36	+1.0%	99,993	404,139
CHT Chunghwa Telecom	0.07	26.87	$29.75 billion	$38.42	+0.8%	41,482	134,049
KDDIY KDDI	0.07	10.90	$66.36 billion	$14.71	+2.2%	37,010	166,275
UNICY Unicharm	0.08	81.22	$29.10 billion	$9.75	-0.6%	61,860	204,936
NTTYY Nippon Telegraph and Telephone	0.08	11.47	$89.47 billion	$24.43	+2.7%	56,683	195,310	Upcoming Earnings
VG Vonage	0.10	40.41	$3.21 billion	$12.93	+0.2%	709,753	3.29 million
WMK Weis Markets	0.10	12.73	$1.28 billion	$47.87	+0.6%	49,320	110,401
SFM Sprouts Farmers Market	0.12	11.19	$2.39 billion	$20.59	+1.4%	1.60 million	2.45 million
HE Hawaiian Electric Industries	0.12	18.74	$4.09 billion	$36.54	-2.5%	156,796	517,923
JBSS John B. Sanfilippo & Son	0.13	15.96	$852.28 million	$74.87	+0.3%	22,543	73,735	Heavy News Reporting
PSA Public Storage	0.13	31.43	$39.04 billion	$220.03	-1.5%	377,401	997,303
SR Spire	0.13	56.15	$3.43 billion	$65.69	-1.1%	107,763	310,082
IIPZF InterRent Real Estate Investment Trust	0.13	4.51	$1.48 billion	$10.73	flat	0	1,170	Upcoming Earnings
SSMXY Sysmex	0.13	71.74	$20.50 billion	$51.65	+5.2%	34,812	22,427	Upcoming Earnings Analyst Upgrade
CLBK Columbia Financial	0.14	31.96	$1.69 billion	$14.70	-1.3%	129,994	204,411
KGDEY Kingdee International Software Group	0.14	219.55	$11.59 billion	$349.09	-0.6%	5	181
YORW The York Water	0.14	37.12	$607.22 million	$46.03	-1.1%	9,483	43,932	Dividend Increase
PLMR Palomar	0.14	39.17	$1.69 billion	$67.37	+1.5%	149,627	356,597	Insider Selling
GOLD Barrick Gold	0.15	13.35	$40.59 billion	$22.69	-0.6%	16.85 million	18.74 million
ATRI Atrion	0.15	33.49	$1.09 billion	$594.41	+0.6%	10,897	6,713
CMS CMS Energy	0.15	23.13	$17.84 billion	$61.98	-1.1%	751,075	2.07 million
TAL TAL Education Group	0.15	7,318.32	$41.86 billion	$73.11	-1.0%	2.01 million	3.58 million	Stock Split
COLD Americold Realty Trust	0.16	79.07	$6.83 billion	$34.00	+0.6%	830,257	1.96 million
FFG FBL Financial Group	0.16	16.50	$1.29 billion	$52.95	flat	21,247	53,390
ED Consolidated Edison	0.16	19.25	$26.34 billion	$77.77	-1.1%	722,067	2.25 million
REMYY Rémy Cointreau	0.16	66.52	$9.09 billion	$17.96	-0.2%	5,249	7,364	Analyst Downgrade Heavy News Reporting
DLR Digital Realty Trust	0.17	55.58	$38.03 billion	$136.73	+0.7%	487,064	2.33 million
SVNDY Seven & i	0.17	17.40	$29.11 billion	$16.35	-0.6%	15,044	98,614
FUJIY FUJIFILM	0.17	17.52	$22.56 billion	$55.03	-0.2%	3,263	43,779	Upcoming Earnings Analyst Revision
YIN Yintech Investment	0.18	36.25	$529.86 million	$7.25	flat	0	23,200
LNT Alliant Energy	0.18	27.34	$13.36 billion	$52.76	-1.4%	461,181	1.53 million
NEE NextEra Energy	0.18	37.85	$148.83 billion	$75.13	-1.1%	3.67 million	9.51 million
WEC WEC Energy Group	0.18	25.88	$30.28 billion	$95.74	-0.3%	840,099	1.58 million
HRIBF HORIBA	0.18	16.48	$2.29 billion	$54.40	flat	0	467
EXPO Exponent	0.19	55.61	$4.30 billion	$83.42	+0.1%	86,096	290,178	Insider Selling
UTL Unitil	0.19	18.91	$614.24 million	$40.66	-0.7%	41,114	73,623
IIJIY Internet Initiative Japan	0.19	53.57	$2.12 billion	$23.57	flat	21	2,572
SCMWY Swisscom	0.19	16.51	$27.37 billion	$53.15	+0.6%	3,560	9,292
MSEX Middlesex Water	0.20	32.07	$1.24 billion	$69.60	-2.3%	34,736	57,198
CPK Chesapeake Utilities	0.20	24.35	$1.87 billion	$105.92	-1.3%	29,353	98,512
SWX Southwest Gas	0.20	17.71	$3.84 billion	$66.59	-2.1%	91,499	371,952
EXR Extra Space Storage	0.20	32.64	$14.47 billion	$110.00	-1.8%	253,139	1.06 million
AWK American Water Works	0.20	42.12	$27.76 billion	$153.73	+0.4%	503,980	1.01 million
OGS ONE Gas	0.21	22.48	$4.36 billion	$79.79	-2.8%	141,625	296,331
PCFBY Pacific Basin Shipping	0.21	28.27	$838.05 million	$3.11	-11.1%	185	1,396
GLAPY Glanbia	0.21	10.70	$3.12 billion	$52.75	flat	2	1,445
CTXS Citrix Systems	0.22	26.27	$15.03 billion	$122.44	+0.8%	735,833	1.88 million
HCP HCP	0.22	16.76	$14.98 billion	$30.51	-0.8%	3.91 million	3.01 million
FTS Fortis	0.22	20.65	$18.90 billion	$40.68	+0.1%	132,747	451,425	Analyst Downgrade
BKH Black Hills	0.22	17.84	$4.06 billion	$63.33	-1.9%	135,943	416,589
ADC Agree Realty	0.22	35.80	$3.68 billion	$65.88	-1.7%	208,488	592,181
SOMLY Secom	0.22	27.42	$23.10 billion	$25.23	+1.9%	2,419	17,414
COG Cabot Oil & Gas	0.23	28.66	$7.19 billion	$17.77	flat	2.12 million	6.97 million
LNN Lindsay	0.23	31.94	$1.23 billion	$113.72	+1.6%	13,594	72,640
FNLPF Fresnillo	0.23	64.57	$10.67 billion	$14.85	+2.6%	2,934	15,403
COR CoreSite Realty	0.23	62.26	$5.35 billion	$125.15	+0.7%	107,964	306,802	Insider Selling
WILYY Demant A/S	0.23	39.72	$8.60 billion	$17.88	flat	0	521
LANC Lancaster Colony	0.24	35.28	$4.72 billion	$170.75	-0.3%	91,577	142,795
SJM The J. M. Smucker	0.24	15.43	$13.46 billion	$116.50	-1.3%	402,032	983,243	Earnings Announcement Analyst Revision
EGOV NIC	0.24	26.53	$1.60 billion	$23.88	+0.2%	139,560	389,181
NHC National HealthCare	0.24	28.86	$982.98 million	$64.65	+1.0%	907	46,699	Heavy News Reporting
DUK Duke Energy	0.24	34.65	$70.76 billion	$94.60	-1.6%	1.29 million	3.77 million	Analyst Report
OBYCF Obayashi	0.24	6.43	$6.70 billion	$9.33	flat	0	1,478	Upcoming Earnings
TKAGY Telekom Austria	0.24	11.59	$4.70 billion	$14.14	flat	0	367
ATNI ATN International	0.25	-254.45	$816.55 million	$50.89	+2.2%	18,660	53,025
EQC Equity Commonwealth	0.25	7.25	$3.21 billion	$26.54	+0.5%	216,644	871,948
SY So-Young International	0.25	170.52	$1.41 billion	$13.64	-0.9%	771,895	612,334	Earnings Announcement Analyst Upgrade Unusual Options Activity
SCPL SciPlay	0.25	19.80	$1.85 billion	$14.65	+0.1%	145,722	570,429
HSY The Hershey	0.26	29.03	$30.84 billion	$148.05	-0.1%	1.25 million	1.10 million
ADSW Advanced Disposal Services	0.26	77.69	$2.75 billion	$30.30	flat	0	1.32 million
CLX The Clorox	0.26	22.62	$25.15 billion	$203.09	+1.2%	699,233	1.77 million
EXC Exelon	0.26	13.38	$41.19 billion	$41.74	-1.1%	1.72 million	6.29 million
POR Portland General Electric	0.26	16.19	$3.83 billion	$42.57	-0.5%	305,074	862,312
NEM Newmont	0.26	18.39	$46.40 billion	$58.48	+1.2%	3.75 million	8.10 million	Analyst Downgrade Analyst Revision
NWE NorthWestern	0.26	20.12	$3.14 billion	$60.95	-1.7%	4,765	365,149
TLSNY Telia Company AB (publ)	0.26	23.22	$17.97 billion	$8.59	-0.1%	18,150	92,568
LLY Eli Lilly and	0.27	24.09	$138.47 billion	$147.44	+1.9%	1.75 million	3.95 million
FE FirstEnergy	0.27	19.79	$14.41 billion	$26.72	+0.6%	2.39 million	6.25 million	Analyst Revision
WMT Walmart	0.27	24.18	$430.25 billion	$151.60	-0.2%	3.67 million	9.18 million	Insider Selling
SJW SJW Group	0.27	73.52	$1.92 billion	$66.90	-0.7%	30,429	115,994
AEE Ameren	0.27	23.10	$19.53 billion	$78.99	-2.0%	438,526	1.64 million	Insider Selling
LUXTY Luxottica Group	0.27	24.37	$27.07 billion	$55.80	+0.4%	2,900	14,259
NWE NorthWestern	0.28	19.11	$3.14 billion	$60.95	-1.7%	4,765	365,149
CCI Crown Castle International	0.28	104.48	$70.84 billion	$167.17	+1.3%	879,727	2.15 million
XEL Xcel Energy	0.28	25.33	$35.79 billion	$67.62	-0.7%	1.95 million	3.13 million
CLPBY Coloplast A/S	0.28	53.64	$31.29 billion	$15.02	+3.7%	54,106	64,092
BSTC BioSpecifics Technologies	0.28	37.50	$649.59 million	$88.50	+0.1%	29,592	60,695
ATO Atmos Energy	0.29	19.72	$12.51 billion	$96.82	-2.6%	307,881	964,515
AEP American Electric Power	0.29	21.94	$42.10 billion	$84.92	-0.5%	1.15 million	3.17 million
CSUAY China Shenhua Energy	0.29	6.09	$38.49 billion	$7.83	+1.2%	12,082	64,455	Upcoming Earnings
TRUMY Terumo	0.29	38.79	$30.65 billion	$39.95	-1.0%	6,962	19,084	Upcoming Earnings
DWHHF Deutsche Wohnen	0.29	15.51	$17.91 billion	$49.78	flat	0	2,239	Upcoming Earnings
ORAN Orange	0.30	11.16	$33.15 billion	$12.72	+2.0%	340,992	642,309
AGR Avangrid	0.30	22.63	$14.49 billion	$46.61	-0.7%	207,996	684,643
AEP American Electric Power	0.30	22.06	$42.38 billion	$84.92	-0.5%	1.15 million	3.17 million
SAFT Safety Insurance Group	0.31	13.65	$1.12 billion	$74.79	-0.6%	57,860	62,204	Heavy News Reporting
AMT American Tower	0.31	55.34	$101.31 billion	$234.09	+0.5%	937,418	2.04 million
CFFN Capitol Federal Financial	0.31	27.74	$1.85 billion	$12.76	-0.9%	280,477	794,255
CUBE CubeSmart	0.31	37.06	$6.26 billion	$31.87	-2.5%	262,637	1.54 million

What Are Low Beta Stocks

Many retail investors assume that you can’t predict the stock market. And since you can’t predict it, they assume that investing in stocks carries a certain amount of risk. Well, as it turns out, there is a way to assess the risk of a particular security: it’s called beta. Low beta stocks are those securities that carry the lowest amount of risk.

How to Use Low Beta Stocks to Minimize Risk and Increase Returns

• What Is the Beta of a Stock?
• How to Calculate Beta
• Low Beta Strategy
• How to Reduce Risk in Your Portfolio
• Is It Smart to Invest in Low Beta Stocks?

Beta is essentially a measure of a stock’s volatility. Risk level is one of the most important stats to analyze in terms of investing in stocks. A comparison of a stock’s risk factor to your own level of risk tolerance will help you know whether to buy, sell, or avoid a certain security. Beta is the number that will help you understand a stock’s level of risk and make those decisions.

What Is the Beta of a Stock?

In the simplest terms, beta is a tool that compares how volatile a stock is in comparison to the overall market. The stock market is the “control” and has a definitive benchmark beta of 1.0, while each individual security is the “variable,” with a beta that varies in terms of how much the stock moves around.

A stock that is more volatile than the market has a beta of more than 1.0, while a stock that is less volatile than the market has a beta of less than 1.0. If you’re a short-term trader riding the market waves and looking at stock market gainers, stock beta can let you know which securities might be the riskiest—then you can decide whether or not to get involved.

As you can see from this explanation, risky stocks are not the only ones that carry risk. Every one of the individual stocks can be viewed as a risky stock to some degree, even if the degree is negligible. Even in bull markets, when it seems like the sky’s the limit forever, it’s impossible for a stock to mirror the benchmark.

How to Calculate Beta

The beta of a stock is calculated using regression analysis. In short, regression analysis is all about comparing one stable variable with other changing variables. The formula for calculating a stock’s beta is simple in theory—beta is found by dividing covariance by variance.

Covariance represents how similar or dissimilar two numbers are in their movements—in this case, a stock is being compared to the market. Positive numbers indicate that their movement is similar. Negative numbers indicate that their movements are different.

Variance represents how much the “control” variable bounces around in comparison to its mean—its normal state. To keep it short and sweet, a stock’s beta is calculated with the intention of assessing how similar or divergent a stock’s movement is in comparison to the market—and thereby determining its volatility. Beta, in turn, can be worked into a complex equation to create a Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM). This equation helps calculate the expected return of an asset, using its risk-free rate as a starting point (a hypothetical rate of return involving no risk).

Beyond beta, other formulas, such as the Sharpe Ratio—which uses standard deviation—can help investors determine how much additional yield they’ll get for every increase per unit of risk. Then there is tracking error, which helps investors understand how much performance has deviated from the intended benchmark.

As you can see, beta is the gateway stat for an in-depth, computational way of growing equity through leveraging statistical opportunities in the stock market. 

Low Beta Strategy

Low Beta Strategy focuses on investing in securities that have a low beta. These are stocks issued by companies in a sector like consumer goods, food, and utilities. This type of asset tends to avoid wild fluctuations because its line of business is both necessary and consistent. For example, utility companies exert a relative monopoly over their local region and face little competition in their sector.

Low Beta stocks are safer in terms of price when the market is down—they match the market, and don’t wildly plummet while the market is coasting. However, when the market is up, the same logic applies: these stocks gain less than some of their more volatile counterparts.

Some investment strategies actually involving investing in both low and high beta stocks simultaneously. Stocks with a higher beta—which can experience greater price fluctuations—can present opportunities for big gains through short-term trading of these volatility stocks. To offset potential losses, the investor will also buy into stocks with a lower beta and hold onto them for longer periods of time. This statistical arbitrage strategy is referred to as the bet against beta.

How to Reduce Risk in Your Portfolio

Unfortunately, beta is not a catchall indicator that can prevent losing your earnings to risky investments. While beta is a mathematical measure of how volatile a stock is in comparison to the market, it says nothing about other factors, like how a company operates, its debt, or current events that can affect its operations—such as its potential in regard to future earnings.

For example, a company in a stable industry like utilities can be poorly run, on the brink of bankruptcy, and facing a cataclysmic shutdown due to a recent energy-related event—but because it’s historically moved in close tandem with the overall market, it’s beta is low. Doesn’t sound like a good investment, does it?

One way to reduce risk in your portfolio is to diversify your investments. In terms of stocks, this can mean diversifying your portfolio through a range of companies and industries. However, if you want to truly minimize risk, the majority of your portfolio should be invested in stable, established, non-speculative securities, and preferably ones that pay good dividends or offer opportunities for growth.

One of the easiest ways to avoid risk is to invest in mutual funds or ETFs. This type of fund pools money from a number of investors. With a larger amount of money to play with, mutual fund managers can spread it out over a broader range of securities than each individual investor would be able to buy on their own. You can also diversify risk by investing in different types of asset classes. Between stocks, bonds, commodities, real estate, and business ownership, there are a number of vehicles for producing cash flow. A capital asset like a paid-off rental property can even produce free cash flow, unencumbered by expenses (this is every investor’s golden egg).

If your money is diversified, when one of your investments takes a hit, you won’t have to lose all your eggs—you’ve placed them in different baskets. While much ink has been spilled about which type of asset can consistently outperform the others in terms of growth, everyone can agree that at different times one asset outperforms the others; they all carry a degree of historical volatility (even real estate). 

If you do want to pick out which stock comprises your portfolio, another strategy for reducing risk is to invest in established, stable companies—but these companies are stable beyond their beta score. Large blue-chip companies, like those you’ll find in Warren Buffet’s portfolio, have been around for decades. They are well run, well-financed, and have low amounts of debt. Beta says nothing about the degree of competence with which a company is run, although competently-run, long-standing companies usually do have a lower beta score.

Even if you’re trying to avoid too much risk, most financiers would agree that it’s okay to take a small percentage of your portfolio (financial experts such as Benjamin Graham have suggested no more than 5%) and look at cheap stocks to buy. These stocks might be riskier, but they can also provide good returns if they work out. If they don’t, your losses will be marginal.

Is It Smart to Invest in Low Beta Stocks?

While beta is used to analyze risk, it does have some shortcomings. As mentioned, beta is a comparative statistic that says nothing about how a company is run. It’s been described by analysts as a sort of rearview mirror, reflecting what’s behind, but not necessarily what’s ahead (which, by contrast, is very impacted by the degree of managerial competence and current events).

That said, beta can be a good tool for short-game investors looking to minimize risk. For long-term investors, it’s not necessarily that useful.

Moreover, beta is a number that says nothing about a stock’s price movement in terms of whether it’s going up or down. All beta tells you is a stock’s volatility relative to the market. This is especially problematic in light of the fact that investors, especially short-term traders, make their moves based on stock prices. However, in conjunction with other stats that give a more complete picture of a stock and its performance, beta can be a useful tool for assessing a security’s level of risk—for short term investors. Long-term investors will want to get a more complete picture of a company, how it’s run, and its level of debt before making an investment.

Investors should not just look at a stock’s beta, but also examine their own level of risk tolerance. Younger investors building a retirement portfolio can afford to take on more risks. After all, they have decades of investment ahead of them. Older investors nearing retirement want to avoid risk and do what they can to stabilize their portfolio as much as possible since it will become a source of income.

There are many strategies for investing in stocks, and they all depend on the investor's preferred mode of gain. A dividend investing strategy can turn rivulets of pennies into a mighty dividend stream, which is great for investors who want passive income. Day trading is great for investors who are skilled enough to leverage swings in the most volatile stocks at the drop of a hat. Other investors might find themselves somewhere between the long game and the short game, figuring out the best growth stocks to scoop up and sell at a profit weeks or months later.

Institutional investors may make a beta calculation as part of their equity and growth strategy, but it’s not the only tool they leverage for assessing how to respond to systematic risk. They do an in-depth micro and macro analysis of stats like market capitalization and general market volatility. Investors also perform fundamental and financial analysis of a company to consider future growth and dividend yield.

Low Beta Stocks

Beta tells you how risky a stock is by comparing its activity to that of the market. It’s important to combine financial signifiers like beta and even professional analyst ratings with fundamental analysis of a company. Alternatively, you can turn over investment decisions to a money manager.

Assessing the balance between risk and reward as it relates to financial gain is the bread and butter of short-term trading. But if short-term trading is not for you, you may consider other strategies such as searching for dividend-paying stocks, the snowballing equity of which can be rolled back into more dividend stocks. Retail investors can also piggyback invest by mimicking the portfolio of established investors with a track record of success. These strategies can be a much easier way for the average investor to increase their stock market earnings than attempting to leverage stock market beta. However, if you are looking to leverage short positions through day trading or similarly short-term asset growth, beta can be a useful tool for determining the risk of a particular security.

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