Forum Discussion
Stock data type and beta calculation
Excel has a linked data type for stocks on the data tab. One of the fields available is called beta. there are many ways to calculate beta. Can you tell me how it is being calculated here? Thank you
9 Replies
sedelstein Completely useless Excel attachment. Double-check to be sure that you attached what you intended. For a general description, complete with a good example, see "How do you calculate beta in Excel?" (click on title).
completely useless add in. I know how to calculate beta from return series.
The attachment shows what the excel linked data type returns. It gives you a beta. Doesn't tell you the benchmark or the time period used in the calculation.
sedelstein Re: ``The attachment shows what the excel linked data type returns``
Perhaps I don't see the data or links because my older version of Excel does not support the feature that you depend on.
What I see in the original Excel attachment is #VALUE in A1, { =_FV(A1,"Price") } in B1, and { =_FV(A1,"Beta") } in C1. And there is no "data" tab per se (sic), which led me to suspect that you attached the wrong file.
Is there some other way that you can present the "linked data" that does not depend on new Excel features. Perhaps a URL that would permit us (me) to access the source data manually.
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Re: ``Doesn't tell you the benchmark or the time period used in the calculation``
Doesn't sound like an __Excel__ question per se. Perhaps you should direct your question to the creator of the source of the data or in a forum that is specific to that website.
But I would set low expectations for a dispositive answer. When I asked Schwab about it some time ago, they said they simply rely on Morningstar data. When I searched for a Morningstar explanation, I did find a Morningstar webpage. But the explanation is vague. (At least the quote page is clear about the time frame, namely 5 years.)
Good luck!
It is often done by calculating the slope of a linear regression of stock returns against a reference index like the S&P 500. I am very familiar with this calculation and cannot get anywhere close to what is being produced by this linked data type
