Low Beta Stocks

Beta is the 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 both 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 about low beta stocks.

Company	Current Price	Beta	PE Ratio	Market Cap	Volume	Average Volume	Indicator(s)
PV Primavera Capital Acquisition	$4.05 -0.2%	0.01	12.27	$217.69 million	7,459	103,184	Gap Up
LCAA L Catterton Asia Acquisition	$10.67	0.01	533.77	$308.90 million	1,068	16,783	Short Interest ↓ Positive News
OPA Magnum Opus Acquisition	$10.69	0.01	17.52	$123.99 million	4	452	Short Interest ↓
AMRK A-Mark Precious Metals	$29.33 -1.4%	0.02	4.62	$684.56 million	205,330	342,234	Short Interest ↑
BLEU bleuacacia	$10.50	0.02	45.65	$89.04 million	1	231	News Coverage
FICV Frontier Investment	$10.45	0.02	74.64	$80.78 million	0	62	Short Interest ↓ News Coverage
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SSBK Southern States Bancshares	$22.59 -0.6%	0.03	6.01	$199.47 million	6,539	12,621	Short Interest ↓ News Coverage Positive News
CIZN Citizens	$10.50 +1.9%	0.03	9.13	$58.91 million	11,068	6,759	Short Interest ↓ News Coverage
OSUR OraSure Technologies	$5.93 -1.3%	0.03	10.22	$435.38 million	436,635	577,231	News Coverage
GO Grocery Outlet	$28.85 -0.3%	0.05	40.63	$2.85 billion	749,698	962,391	Short Interest ↑
PROC Procaps Group	$3.62 +1.2%	0.05	5.48	$408.41 million	9,489	4,929	Positive News
ENCP Energem	$11.12	0.05	101.10	$37.81 million	0	388	Positive News
TDCX TDCX	$5.91 -1.7%	0.06	10.55	$856.47 million	41,489	285,962	Short Interest ↓ Positive News
CULL Cullman Bancorp	$10.50	0.06	19.81	$77.49 million	161	3,585	Short Interest ↑
ZTO ZTO Express (Cayman)	$24.17 +0.7%	0.06	16.90	$14.72 billion	1.65 million	3.05 million	Analyst Upgrade
COCO Vita Coco	$26.04 -2.1%	0.07	51.06	$1.47 billion	420,209	711,226	Short Interest ↑
REFI Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance	$14.72 +0.1%	0.07	7.25	$267.46 million	59,079	112,803	News Coverage
PLMR Palomar	$50.75 +1.2%	0.08	22.36	$1.26 billion	390,604	114,488	Positive News High Trading Volume
FANH Fanhua	$7.21 -1.9%	0.08	11.27	$389.56 million	32,981	34,509	Short Interest ↑ News Coverage
INSW International Seaways	$45.00 -0.2%	0.09	3.39	$2.20 billion	521,320	442,863	Analyst Report
PBHC Pathfinder Bancorp	$13.80	0.09	7.46	$64.72 million	10	3,574	Short Interest ↑
GLDI Credit Suisse X-Links Gold Shares Covered Call ETN	$133.96 -1.0%	0.10	171.79	$53.58 million	2,493	4,259	Short Interest ↓ Positive News
CFSB CFSB Bancorp	$7.00 -0.2%	0.10	30.44	$46.41 million	505	1,298	Short Interest ↑
OBT Orange County Bancorp	$43.17 -3.5%	0.11	8.32	$243.91 million	2,499	14,697	Short Interest ↓ Positive News
CHT Chunghwa Telecom	$35.94 -0.2%	0.11	22.75	$27.88 billion	111,915	130,621	Short Interest ↑
STER Sterling Check	$12.62 -6.4%	0.11	631.00	$1.22 billion	308,892	316,749	News Coverage Gap Down
FSBC Five Star Bancorp	$20.06 -0.4%	0.12	6.78	$346.24 million	22,034	18,036	Short Interest ↓ Positive News
TR Tootsie Roll Industries	$29.86 -0.8%	0.12	26.24	$2.09 billion	84,391	101,691	Positive News
CLST Catalyst Bancorp	$12.06 +5.9%	0.12	120.60	$59.22 million	8,722	4,827	Short Interest ↑ News Coverage
HMNF HMN Financial	$19.13	0.13	11.46	$85.89 million	1,446	3,473	Short Interest ↑ Positive News
PNT POINT Biopharma Global	$6.67 -1.6%	0.13	7.67	$705.49 million	473,088	552,212	News Coverage Positive News
BIIB Biogen	$257.01 -0.3%	0.13	13.99	$37.22 billion	887,737	763,916	News Coverage
TNP Tsakos Energy Navigation	$20.78 -1.3%	0.14	1.73	$613.22 million	256,558	296,757	Short Interest ↑
FCAL First Trust California Municipal High Income ETF	$47.24 +0.2%	0.15	124.32	$144.08 million	15,706	16,356	Short Interest ↓ Positive News
VFS VinFast Auto	$12.50 -0.5%	0.15	69.45	$264.13 million	4.67 million	N/A	Gap Down High Trading Volume
ARTNA Artesian Resources	$41.99 +0.3%	0.15	24.41	$431.24 million	37,254	45,267	Short Interest ↑
IGIC International General Insurance	$11.28 -1.7%	0.15	4.51	$530.54 million	46,714	85,979	Short Interest ↓ News Coverage Positive News
CO Global Cord Blood	$1.24	0.16	1.94	$150.72 million	4,508	216,519	Gap Down
MGYR Magyar Bancorp	$10.25 +5.7%	0.16	8.40	$68.27 million	1,243	3,368	News Coverage Gap Up
NAPA Duckhorn Portfolio	$10.26 -7.7%	0.16	17.10	$1.18 billion	2.12 million	688,290	Analyst Report News Coverage High Trading Volume

GLBS Globus Maritime	$1.84 +10.8%	0.17	14.15	$37.87 million	853,109	315,197	Analyst Report Gap Up High Trading Volume
IHT InnSuites Hospitality Trust	$1.27 -4.5%	0.17	21.17	$11.44 million	3,011	37,027	Analyst Report Positive News
OVBC Ohio Valley Banc	$24.25 +0.8%	0.17	8.06	$115.92 million	415	1,023	Analyst Report Short Interest ↑ News Coverage
NAT Nordic American Tankers	$4.12 +1.7%	0.17	7.23	$860.26 million	4.96 million	2.59 million	Short Interest ↑ News Coverage
BNTX BioNTech	$108.64 +6.5%	0.17	6.09	$26.18 billion	1.19 million	482,701	Short Interest ↑ News Coverage High Trading Volume
POCI Precision Optics	$5.95 -0.8%	0.19	297.65	$36.12 million	16,588	3,450	News Coverage Gap Down High Trading Volume
REGN Regeneron Pharmaceuticals	$822.96 -1.4%	0.19	21.75	$89.34 billion	409,771	383,792	Analyst Report News Coverage Positive News
CHMG Chemung Financial	$39.61 -0.1%	0.19	6.81	$186.96 million	3,729	6,027	Short Interest ↑ News Coverage
HRL Hormel Foods	$38.03	0.20	23.62	$20.78 billion	2.00 million	2.19 million	Dividend Announcement Short Interest ↑
PPIH Perma-Pipe International	$8.17 +3.9%	0.20	13.85	$65.85 million	5,156	7,166	Short Interest ↑ Gap Down
BAFN BayFirst Financial	$11.23 -0.7%	0.20	33.01	$46.02 million	8,342	4,428	Short Interest ↑ News Coverage
FCN FTI Consulting	$178.41 -2.0%	0.21	27.16	$6.07 billion	171,383	172,743	Positive News
CIA Citizens	$2.85 -4.7%	0.21	15.00	$141.42 million	124,955	34,669	High Trading Volume
JTAI Jet.AI	$3.23 +7.1%	0.21	46.07	$28.12 million	58,309	69,316	Upcoming Earnings Positive News
CLBK Columbia Financial	$15.71 +0.8%	0.21	26.18	$1.66 billion	104,493	112,592	Short Interest ↑
GLG TD	$0.14	0.22	1.19	$27.00 million	2.27 million	11.23 million	Short Interest ↑ News Coverage
SELF Global Self Storage	$4.86 +0.8%	0.22	18.69	$54.14 million	14,685	21,154	Short Interest ↑
LANC Lancaster Colony	$165.03 -0.1%	0.23	40.95	$4.54 billion	98,044	140,256	Short Interest ↓ Positive News
EIG Employers	$39.95 -2.3%	0.23	8.72	$1.04 billion	132,379	142,846	Analyst Downgrade News Coverage
UTMD Utah Medical Products	$86.00 -2.4%	0.23	18.14	$312.18 million	14,505	13,744	News Coverage Positive News
BOWL Bowlero	$9.62 +1.1%	0.23	32.07	$1.56 billion	2.13 million	2.52 million	Short Interest ↑
HAPP Happiness Development Group	$3.21	0.23	6.69	$22.33 million	4,107	14,340	Gap Up
MSVB Mid-Southern Bancorp	$9.91 -1.3%	0.23	16.52	$28.54 million	600	1,051
VIRT Virtu Financial	$17.27	0.24	12.70	$2.81 billion	704,579	1.04 million	Positive News
GIS General Mills	$63.99 -0.2%	0.24	15.61	$37.20 billion	5.33 million	4.66 million	Dividend Announcement Short Interest ↓
YMM Full Truck Alliance	$7.04 +1.0%	0.24	32.00	$7.78 billion	2.72 million	3.73 million	Gap Up
FRO Frontline	$18.78 +0.9%	0.24	5.06	$4.18 billion	4.33 million	2.67 million	Options Volume News Coverage
AAME Atlantic American	$1.93 +4.9%	0.25	193.00	$39.37 million	1,333	4,034	Analyst Report Short Interest ↑ News Coverage Gap Up
ATHM Autohome	$30.35 -0.5%	0.26	13.49	$3.81 billion	425,887	340,375	Analyst Downgrade Short Interest ↑
UBCP United Bancorp	$11.55 +0.3%	0.26	7.55	$68.26 million	1,411	2,556	Short Interest ↑
SDPI Superior Drilling Products	$0.80 -1.2%	0.26	8.89	$24.32 million	86,064	65,635	News Coverage
JFU 9F	$2.90 +2.3%	0.26	3.16	$34.18 million	929	3,544	Short Interest ↑ News Coverage
SAFT Safety Insurance Group	$68.19 -0.5%	0.27	28.41	$1.01 billion	66,933	51,266	Positive News
ECBK ECB Bancorp	$10.98	0.27	39.21	$100.77 million	15,042	7,268	Short Interest ↓ High Trading Volume
QDEL QuidelOrtho	$73.04 +1.6%	0.27	110.67	$4.88 billion	466,306	534,419	Short Interest ↓ News Coverage
FVCB FVCBankcorp	$12.81 +9.3%	0.27	14.90	$228.04 million	202,927	28,735	Short Interest ↓ Positive News High Trading Volume
NATH Nathan's Famous	$70.66 -1.6%	0.28	14.54	$288.29 million	3,474	6,057	Analyst Downgrade
LRN Stride	$45.03 -0.8%	0.28	15.21	$1.94 billion	282,928	525,455
CLX Clorox	$131.06 +1.9%	0.28	110.14	$16.23 billion	2.80 million	1.33 million	Analyst Revision High Trading Volume
EQC Equity Commonwealth	$18.37 -0.3%	0.29	32.23	$2.02 billion	833,805	948,919	Positive News
HSY Hershey	$200.08 -0.9%	0.29	23.02	$40.91 billion	1.41 million	1.29 million	Insider Selling
ESSA ESSA Bancorp	$15.01 +0.5%	0.29	7.39	$156.10 million	14,031	23,196	Short Interest ↓
CTRA Coterra Energy	$27.05 -1.7%	0.29	6.78	$20.42 billion	5.00 million	5.42 million	Analyst Report Insider Selling News Coverage
JBSS John B. Sanfilippo & Son	$98.80 -0.9%	0.30	18.30	$1.14 billion	61,667	83,737	Short Interest ↓ News Coverage
DG Dollar General	$105.80 +0.4%	0.30	10.84	$23.22 billion	3.73 million	5.24 million	Analyst Report
TDSA Cabana Target Drawdown 5 ETF	$20.51	0.30	14.52	$16.40 million	2,931	11,623	Dividend Cut Ex-Dividend
SWKH SWK	$15.75 +0.1%	0.30	11.25	$197.51 million	2,772	7,398
PFIS Peoples Financial Services	$40.10 -4.0%	0.30	8.00	$284.31 million	12,509	21,234	Short Interest ↓
OFED Oconee Federal Financial	$12.75 -1.2%	0.30	20.56	$71.52 million	200	461	News Coverage Gap Down
VABK Virginia National Bankshares	$30.35 -5.0%	0.30	6.70	$162.98 million	7,595	8,366	Short Interest ↓ News Coverage

OCUP Ocuphire Pharma	$3.35 -3.7%	0.31	3.99	$70.38 million	768,088	382,120	News Coverage High Trading Volume
OPOF Old Point Financial	$18.27 +4.2%	0.31	9.04	$92.08 million	9,183	4,082	Analyst Report News Coverage High Trading Volume
CZFS Citizens Financial Services	$47.92 -0.8%	0.31	10.52	$225.22 million	29,647	21,415	Short Interest ↑ News Coverage Gap Up
CFFI C&F Financial	$53.60 -2.0%	0.31	6.29	$181.70 million	4,782	6,936	News Coverage
LLY Eli Lilly and Company	$537.13 -1.3%	0.32	74.71	$509.89 billion	2.97 million	2.75 million
GRVY Gravity	$69.00 -0.6%	0.32	4.90	$479.55 million	11,973	19,288	Short Interest ↓
OPXS Optex Systems	$4.16 +0.6%	0.32	16.62	$28.09 million	2,730	9,398	Short Interest ↓ Gap Up
ICCH ICC	$16.10	0.32	8.01	$50.60 million	41	3,144	News Coverage
SPOK Spok	$14.27 -2.3%	0.32	8.20	$284.97 million	137,780	229,918	Short Interest ↓ Positive News
GCBC Greene County Bancorp	$24.05 +1.1%	0.32	13.25	$409.57 million	11,273	12,734	Short Interest ↑ News Coverage

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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Low Beta Stocks

What Are Low Beta Stocks

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?

Low Beta Stocks

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