Forum Discussion
Stock data type and beta calculation
No I don't know how to view it in another version of excel. I'm not sure who the provider is only that in comes with excel and accessed through the Data tab. I do calculate my own betas for my own purposes. The ones Excel provides are different enough that I thought I would post in the hopes someone might know. Microsoft support was unsupportive. It's a lottery ticket posting here. I don't expect to get an answer but you never know.
sedelstein Re: ``I'm not sure who the provider is only that in comes with excel and accessed through the Data tab``
Okay, now I understand. Sorry about the misdirection.
The source of Excel stock data is Refinitiv. See "About stock financial data sources" (click here).
My guess is: Morningstar is the source of the beta statistic (click here).
In my experience, questions like this can never be answered dispositively. We have to get to the originating financial analysis team. And not only are they shielded by many layers of human firewalls, but also these calculations were developed so long ago by third-party software that the current crop of "owners" themselves probably don't know how things are done.
Thanks Joe
I think you are right about Morningstar. When you type a ticker symbol on their website you get some information on the risk tab. The data there is very close to but not exactly the same as what Excel returns. Five years is a pretty long time for a beta calculation and I think in the case of some symbols these measures are flawed and I prefer my own calculation which is also very easily calculated given historical stock data adjusted for dividends and corporate actions (splits, etc...)
Best regards
Steve
sedelstein Re: ``I think you are right about Morningstar. [....] The data there is very close to but not exactly the same as what Excel returns.``
Schwab had told me that "Morningstar" revises its statistics only periodically -- perhaps every quarter(?). I suspect they mean that Schwab pulls the statistics only periodically. The same might be true of Refinitiv. Or it might be that Morningstar had only recently updated its statistics based on Dec'20 data, and Refinitiv has not caught up yet.
In any case, I agree with doing your own calculations based on your own needs. I, too, prefer to have control over the details.
PS.... In other forums, I have seen many complaints about the "Excel" (Refinitiv) stock data. It does not sound very reliable -- at least, according to others. I have no experience with it myself, obviously.
sedelstein Far from being an expert on the subject, but perhaps it helps knowing that the Stock data type in Excel get's its data from a company called Refinitiv. See picture below. Did some testing and compared some betas from Excel to ones I found on e.g. Yahoo Finance (5Y). They match exactly.
