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)
LCAA L Catterton Asia Acquisition	$10.56	0.01	150.88	$305.67 million	155,170	466,464	Upcoming Earnings Positive News
PV Primavera Capital Acquisition	$4.47 +0.9%	0.01	13.55	$240.26 million	8,453	103,184
WMPN William Penn Bancorporation	$11.58 +1.1%	0.01	52.64	$146.72 million	67,610	36,974
OPA Magnum Opus Acquisition	$10.54	0.01	17.28	$122.21 million	1	21,630
FICV Frontier Investment	$10.50	0.02	61.76	$262.50 million	0	83	Upcoming Earnings
OXAC Oxbridge Acquisition	$10.03 +11.1%	0.02	143.29	$41.93 million	60,016	24,383	Gap Up High Trading Volume
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CIZN Citizens	$10.40 +2.5%	0.02	9.04	$58.34 million	7,689	3,531	News Coverage High Trading Volume
GO Grocery Outlet	$34.59 +4.4%	0.03	51.63	$3.40 billion	3.63 million	966,209	Analyst Report News Coverage Gap Up High Trading Volume
ZTO ZTO Express (Cayman)	$26.32 -1.1%	0.03	19.64	$16.08 billion	1.19 million	2.63 million
BWC Blue Whale Acquisition Corp I	$10.15	0.04	78.08	$310.29 million	0	13,656	Upcoming Earnings Positive News
PLMR Palomar	$57.64 +0.7%	0.04	25.39	$1.43 billion	84,407	142,320	Insider Selling
ENCP Energem	$11.01 +0.3%	0.05	220.20	$37.43 million	100	2,734
PROC Procaps Group	$4.02 -4.3%	0.05	12.56	$453.54 million	2,457	22,275
FANH Fanhua	$6.41 +1.6%	0.05	12.09	$343.83 million	27,956	39,935
CULL Cullman Bancorp	$10.62 -1.2%	0.06	20.26	$78.40 million	7,334	2,702	Positive News High Trading Volume
REFI Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance	$15.48 +0.3%	0.06	7.82	$280.03 million	115,574	80,353	News Coverage
COCO Vita Coco	$26.47 -0.7%	0.07	51.90	$1.49 billion	516,411	479,246
PBHC Pathfinder Bancorp	$14.51 -0.3%	0.07	7.84	$67.47 million	323	2,204
INSW International Seaways	$46.19 +3.9%	0.08	4.01	$2.27 billion	1.19 million	650,178	News Coverage Gap Up
OSUR OraSure Technologies	$6.25 -3.7%	0.08	10.78	$458.84 million	1.10 million	609,860
FSBC Five Star Bancorp	$23.71 -1.2%	0.09	8.01	$409.24 million	21,662	31,119
GLDI Credit Suisse X-Links Gold Shares Covered Call ETN	$139.53 -0.7%	0.10	178.94	$55.81 million	3,126	4,476	Positive News
PNT POINT Biopharma Global	$8.35 -1.8%	0.10	9.94	$882.43 million	334,560	639,550	Upcoming Earnings
TR Tootsie Roll Industries	$33.61 0.0%	0.10	29.54	$2.36 billion	78,368	153,457	Positive News
BSAQ Black Spade Acquisition	$10.69 +0.8%	0.10	42.76	$225.88 million	22,149	90,198
CLST Catalyst Bancorp	$11.75 -0.8%	0.11	117.50	$59.46 million	3,827	9,224	Positive News
CHT Chunghwa Telecom	$36.87 +0.1%	0.11	23.34	$28.60 billion	102,971	109,670
GLG TD	$0.44 -3.6%	0.11	3.84	$68.30 million	28,115	281,868
OBT Orange County Bancorp	$49.03 +3.5%	0.12	9.45	$276.53 million	16,007	15,946
CFSB CFSB Bancorp	$7.01 -2.3%	0.12	30.48	$46.48 million	2,020	3,177	News Coverage Gap Down
TNP Tsakos Energy Navigation	$22.02 +2.5%	0.13	1.89	$649.72 million	522,218	335,425	Analyst Upgrade News Coverage
HMNF HMN Financial	$20.25	0.13	12.13	$90.92 million	169	4,777
BIIB Biogen	$271.29 -1.0%	0.14	14.77	$39.29 billion	613,126	1.07 million	Analyst Report Analyst Revision
NAT Nordic American Tankers	$4.43 +3.0%	0.14	10.55	$924.98 million	2.72 million	2.94 million
MGYR Magyar Bancorp	$11.04 -0.2%	0.15	9.05	$73.86 million	9,492	4,183	High Trading Volume
FCAL First Trust California Municipal High Income ETF	$48.75 +0.1%	0.15	128.28	$148.67 million	2,794	16,586
ARTNA Artesian Resources	$45.33 -0.4%	0.15	26.35	$431.09 million	48,555	45,596	Dividend Announcement
OVBC Ohio Valley Banc	$25.03 +0.1%	0.15	8.32	$119.64 million	978	3,863
CGEM Cullinan Oncology	$10.36 -1.5%	0.16	8.49	$407.78 million	143,785	248,776	News Coverage
CO Global Cord Blood	$1.17	0.16	1.83	$142.22 million	15,961	216,519	Analyst Report Gap Down

CHMG Chemung Financial	$42.30 -0.2%	0.16	7.27	$199.23 million	7,744	15,501	Positive News
NAPA Duckhorn Portfolio	$12.38 -0.6%	0.16	24.76	$1.43 billion	468,908	606,509	News Coverage
IGIC International General Insurance	$9.79 -1.7%	0.17	4.75	$460.46 million	102,240	54,894	Upcoming Earnings
IHT InnSuites Hospitality Trust	$2.05 +4.6%	0.17	29.29	$18.70 million	3,957	28,578	Analyst Report Positive News Gap Up
GLBS Globus Maritime	$0.91 -1.1%	0.17	1.25	$18.73 million	31,990	64,741	Upcoming Earnings Analyst Report Gap Down
STER Sterling Check	$13.09 +6.5%	0.17	93.50	$1.27 billion	485,473	244,998
BNTX BioNTech	$106.49 +4.6%	0.18	5.97	$25.66 billion	1.19 million	689,580	Earnings Report Analyst Report Analyst Revision
BAFN BayFirst Financial	$14.32 +0.8%	0.19	42.12	$58.71 million	7,725	3,171	High Trading Volume
SDPI Superior Drilling Products	$1.27 -5.2%	0.20	15.88	$37.15 million	311,091	127,523	Analyst Report High Trading Volume
HRL Hormel Foods	$40.71 +1.4%	0.20	23.81	$22.24 billion	1.28 million	2.02 million
CLBK Columbia Financial	$17.67 -0.9%	0.21	29.45	$1.87 billion	77,057	193,493
REGN Regeneron Pharmaceuticals	$785.61 +0.7%	0.21	20.77	$86.19 billion	429,007	618,812	Earnings Report Analyst Report
PPIH Perma-Pipe International	$8.76 -3.9%	0.21	12.70	$70.17 million	8,705	10,478
YMM Full Truck Alliance	$6.93 +1.6%	0.21	49.50	$7.66 billion	2.15 million	5.88 million
MSVB Mid-Southern Bancorp	$10.83 -0.2%	0.21	18.05	$31.30 million	21,358	4,164	High Trading Volume
LANC Lancaster Colony	$189.77 -0.4%	0.21	39.87	$5.22 billion	99,433	147,417
FCN FTI Consulting	$181.38 -0.1%	0.21	27.61	$6.17 billion	388,186	260,426
SELF Global Self Storage	$5.12 -0.4%	0.22	20.48	$57.04 million	18,876	23,216
UTMD Utah Medical Products	$95.35 -2.1%	0.22	20.12	$346.12 million	5,727	9,950	Analyst Downgrade Positive News
HAPP Happiness Development Group	$1.70 -1.2%	0.23	3.54	$11.82 million	5,901	14,340
ATHM Autohome	$30.80 +1.8%	0.23	13.69	$3.87 billion	336,182	512,789
EIG Employers	$39.17 +0.2%	0.23	8.55	$1.02 billion	125,223	135,160	Positive News
GIS General Mills	$72.16 +1.1%	0.23	16.74	$42.23 billion	3.38 million	3.43 million
FRO Frontline	$17.54 +1.5%	0.24	6.05	$3.90 billion	1.71 million	3.44 million	Positive News
CIA Citizens	$3.05 +5.2%	0.24	16.05	$152.01 million	57,585	68,624
VIRT Virtu Financial	$18.60 -1.5%	0.25	13.68	$3.03 billion	782,310	1.16 million
NATH Nathan's Famous	$78.11 -0.1%	0.25	16.07	$318.69 million	7,690	9,371	Dividend Announcement
ACRX AcelRx Pharmaceuticals	$0.95	0.26	0.14	$10.37 million	43,774	168,968
UBCP United Bancorp	$11.47 -3.0%	0.26	7.50	$67.79 million	5,640	4,256
QDEL QuidelOrtho	$76.28 -7.3%	0.27	41.91	$5.08 billion	1.60 million	433,954	Earnings Report News Coverage Gap Down High Trading Volume
OPOF Old Point Financial	$18.85 -0.5%	0.27	9.33	$93.68 million	4,396	4,133
DG Dollar General	$167.05 +1.1%	0.28	15.74	$36.64 billion	1.66 million	2.41 million
ESSA ESSA Bancorp	$17.31 -0.3%	0.28	8.53	$180.02 million	11,872	23,325
GRVY Gravity	$75.18 +1.2%	0.28	6.77	$522.50 million	113,740	23,046	Upcoming Earnings Gap Up High Trading Volume
FVCB FVCBankcorp	$13.80 -1.1%	0.28	16.05	$244.33 million	36,453	46,915
HSY Hershey	$225.65 +0.6%	0.28	25.97	$46.14 billion	1.08 million	1.11 million
SAFT Safety Insurance Group	$72.21 -0.6%	0.28	30.09	$1.07 billion	25,574	74,447	Positive News
CZFS Citizens Financial Services	$62.70 -3.1%	0.28	13.77	$251.43 million	15,513	18,697
CLX Clorox	$162.93 +0.5%	0.29	136.92	$20.14 billion	976,031	1.22 million	Analyst Report Analyst Revision
PFIS Peoples Financial Services	$47.15 -0.4%	0.29	9.41	$337.12 million	12,161	11,052	Analyst Upgrade Gap Down
EQC Equity Commonwealth	$19.38 -0.4%	0.29	34.00	$2.13 billion	798,006	1.06 million
JBSS John B. Sanfilippo & Son	$105.59 +0.7%	0.29	18.72	$1.22 billion	83,875	70,828	Positive News
CTRA Coterra Energy	$28.28 +2.5%	0.29	7.09	$21.42 billion	10.55 million	7.96 million	Dividend Announcement Analyst Report Gap Up
LRN Stride	$39.24 -0.2%	0.29	15.03	$1.69 billion	314,129	462,182	Upcoming Earnings News Coverage
SWKH SWK	$16.08 +2.4%	0.30	14.23	$206.07 million	5,776	11,652	News Coverage Gap Up
BFC Bank First	$84.72 -0.5%	0.30	16.45	$880.24 million	15,449	22,574
TDSA Cabana Target Drawdown 5 ETF	$20.74 -0.3%	0.30	14.52	$16.59 million	367	13,096
CFFI C&F Financial	$57.17 -0.1%	0.30	6.71	$196.09 million	4,061	9,844	Positive News
OFED Oconee Federal Financial	$12.75	0.30	17.47	$71.53 million	2	5,349	Upcoming Earnings Dividend Announcement
GCBC Greene County Bancorp	$34.35 -1.0%	0.30	18.93	$584.98 million	3,972	19,242	Insider Selling

CRCT Cricut	$10.74 +6.4%	0.31	51.14	$2.21 billion	512,827	225,798	Earnings Report Gap Up High Trading Volume
ICCH ICC	$15.96 -3.3%	0.31	7.94	$50.27 million	104	1,533
CPB Campbell Soup	$43.97 +1.5%	0.32	16.85	$13.11 billion	2.34 million	2.44 million	Analyst Report
LARK Landmark Bancorp	$20.62 -2.1%	0.32	10.70	$107.64 million	3,929	3,909
PINC Premier	$27.14 -0.7%	0.32	17.62	$3.23 billion	540,280	677,158
SPOK Spok	$14.26 +1.0%	0.33	8.20	$284.77 million	218,003	238,065
MRK Merck & Co., Inc.	$106.10 -0.3%	0.33	86.97	$269.22 billion	6.34 million	7.86 million	Analyst Revision
USCB USCB Financial	$11.28 -0.4%	0.33	11.28	$221.31 million	9,612	25,208
FCAP First Capital	$37.01 -1.5%	0.33	9.39	$124.35 million	719	4,667	News Coverage Positive News
ARKO Arko	$8.20 +2.8%	0.33	24.12	$986.50 million	218,880	220,011	Dividend Announcement Analyst Report

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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