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	$9.90 +0.2%	0.01	30.00	$532.13 million	75,600	103,184	Gap Up
LCAA L Catterton Asia Acquisition	$10.58 +0.1%	0.01	529.26	$306.29 million	31,700	461,417	Short Interest ↑
OPA Magnum Opus Acquisition	$10.54 +0.1%	0.01	17.28	$122.26 million	40,800	80,877	Positive News
WMPN William Penn Bancorporation	$12.45 +5.1%	0.01	56.59	$159.48 million	173,800	38,090	Short Interest ↑ High Trading Volume
CIZN Citizens	$10.49 +2.8%	0.02	9.12	$58.85 million	2,600	3,601	Gap Up
OXAC Oxbridge Acquisition	$8.60 -14.3%	0.02	122.86	$35.95 million	292,800	27,668	Upcoming Earnings Short Interest ↑ Gap Down High Trading Volume
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GO Grocery Outlet	$34.34 -1.0%	0.03	48.37	$3.38 billion	1.44 million	973,087	Short Interest ↓ Analyst Revision
ZTO ZTO Express (Cayman)	$25.75 -1.7%	0.03	19.22	$15.73 billion	2.34 million	2.62 million
BWC Blue Whale Acquisition Corp I	$10.15	0.04	78.08	$310.29 million	500	89,413	Positive News
PLMR Palomar	$56.75 -0.3%	0.04	25.00	$1.40 billion	129,900	142,419
ENCP Energem	$11.05 +0.4%	0.05	221.00	$37.57 million	7,900	2,825	Upcoming Earnings Positive News High Trading Volume
PROC Procaps Group	$4.00 +0.3%	0.05	12.50	$451.28 million	3,000	22,017	Short Interest ↑
FANH Fanhua	$6.67 +2.1%	0.05	12.59	$357.78 million	33,800	39,899	Positive News
CULL Cullman Bancorp	$10.65 +0.3%	0.06	20.09	$78.60 million	600	2,681	Short Interest ↑
REFI Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance	$15.00 -1.2%	0.06	7.39	$272.55 million	84,600	81,461	Earnings Report Short Interest ↓
COCO Vita Coco	$26.50 -2.9%	0.07	51.96	$1.50 billion	503,800	482,769
PBHC Pathfinder Bancorp	$14.83 +3.6%	0.07	8.02	$68.96 million	600	2,201	Positive News Gap Up
INSW International Seaways	$45.23 -0.1%	0.08	3.41	$2.21 billion	558,300	648,925	Dividend Cut Short Interest ↑ Analyst Revision
OSUR OraSure Technologies	$6.53 +3.5%	0.08	11.26	$479.43 million	1.16 million	614,044	Short Interest ↑
FSBC Five Star Bancorp	$23.19 +0.0%	0.09	7.83	$400.26 million	9,600	30,869
GLDI Credit Suisse X-Links Gold Shares Covered Call ETN	$139.45 -0.3%	0.10	178.83	$55.78 million	2,500	4,451	Short Interest ↑
PNT POINT Biopharma Global	$8.99 -0.7%	0.10	10.70	$950.06 million	546,900	638,413	Positive News
TR Tootsie Roll Industries	$33.32 -0.2%	0.10	29.28	$2.34 billion	80,600	152,411	Positive News
BSAQ Black Spade Acquisition	$14.82 -19.9%	0.10	59.28	$313.15 million	799,000	127,121	Short Interest ↑ Gap Down High Trading Volume
CLST Catalyst Bancorp	$11.85 -0.4%	0.11	118.50	$59.96 million	1,400	9,175	Positive News
GLG TD	$0.42 +3.3%	0.11	3.50	$65.69 million	60,100	279,516	Upcoming Earnings Short Interest ↑ News Coverage
CHT Chunghwa Telecom	$37.12 +0.2%	0.11	23.49	$28.80 billion	108,300	109,853	Short Interest ↑
CFSB CFSB Bancorp	$7.08 -0.7%	0.12	30.78	$46.94 million	1,900	3,149	Short Interest ↑ News Coverage
OBT Orange County Bancorp	$48.74 +0.5%	0.12	9.39	$274.89 million	24,700	16,036	News Coverage
HMNF HMN Financial	$20.25 -2.7%	0.13	12.13	$90.92 million	2,800	2,931	Short Interest ↑ Gap Down
TNP Tsakos Energy Navigation	$21.37 -1.0%	0.13	1.83	$630.63 million	263,100	335,652	Short Interest ↑ Positive News
BIIB Biogen	$273.68 +1.7%	0.14	14.90	$39.63 billion	869,700	1.06 million	Short Interest ↑
NAT Nordic American Tankers	$4.13 -6.6%	0.14	9.83	$862.34 million	3.53 million	2.94 million	Positive News
MGYR Magyar Bancorp	$11.16 +0.1%	0.15	9.15	$74.66 million	1,200	4,163	Short Interest ↑
FCAL First Trust California Municipal High Income ETF	$48.67 0.0%	0.15	128.08	$148.44 million	57,500	16,899	Short Interest ↑ High Trading Volume
ARTNA Artesian Resources	$46.47 +1.5%	0.15	27.02	$441.93 million	52,000	45,497	Dividend Announcement Analyst Upgrade
OVBC Ohio Valley Banc	$25.00 -1.6%	0.15	8.31	$119.50 million	6,100	3,853	Analyst Report Short Interest ↑
CO Global Cord Blood	$2.99 +34.7%	0.16	4.67	$363.44 million	9.28 million	216,519	High Trading Volume
CHMG Chemung Financial	$42.70 +2.2%	0.16	7.34	$201.12 million	26,800	15,595	Positive News
NAPA Duckhorn Portfolio	$12.80 +1.3%	0.16	25.60	$1.48 billion	648,800	607,052

IGIC International General Insurance	$9.63 -2.4%	0.17	4.67	$452.90 million	27,300	54,514	Upcoming Earnings News Coverage
GLBS Globus Maritime	$0.87 -3.8%	0.17	1.19	$17.92 million	50,200	64,365	Upcoming Earnings Positive News
STER Sterling Check	$13.50 +0.1%	0.17	675.00	$1.30 billion	436,200	247,341	Insider Selling Short Interest ↑
IHT InnSuites Hospitality Trust	$1.90 -3.6%	0.17	27.15	$17.33 million	9,600	28,308	Positive News
BNTX BioNTech	$106.92 +1.4%	0.18	5.99	$25.77 billion	427,000	690,285	Earnings Report Analyst Revision
BAFN BayFirst Financial	$14.26 -0.9%	0.19	41.94	$58.47 million	2,000	3,146	Short Interest ↑
SDPI Superior Drilling Products	$1.33 -1.9%	0.20	16.56	$38.76 million	100,400	127,233
HRL Hormel Foods	$41.60 +2.0%	0.20	24.33	$22.73 billion	1.91 million	2.02 million	Short Interest ↓ Positive News
FCN FTI Consulting	$187.31 +2.1%	0.21	28.51	$6.37 billion	273,700	260,276	Insider Selling Short Interest ↓ Analyst Revision
LANC Lancaster Colony	$186.56 +1.0%	0.21	39.19	$5.13 billion	102,300	147,052	Positive News
MSVB Mid-Southern Bancorp	$11.15 +4.3%	0.21	18.58	$32.11 million	4,100	4,135
YMM Full Truck Alliance	$6.68 -3.7%	0.21	47.71	$7.39 billion	2.70 million	5.84 million	Positive News Gap Down
PPIH Perma-Pipe International	$9.26 +0.9%	0.21	13.42	$74.17 million	14,200	10,621	Positive News
REGN Regeneron Pharmaceuticals	$806.95 +1.8%	0.21	21.33	$88.53 billion	526,100	616,693	Analyst Downgrade Insider Selling
CLBK Columbia Financial	$17.86 +0.5%	0.21	29.77	$1.89 billion	77,200	192,092	Short Interest ↑
UTMD Utah Medical Products	$95.59 -0.1%	0.22	20.17	$346.80 million	3,300	9,876	Short Interest ↑
SELF Global Self Storage	$5.10 -1.5%	0.22	19.62	$56.83 million	14,100	23,082
ATHM Autohome	$29.70 -1.7%	0.23	13.20	$3.73 billion	658,000	513,507
GIS General Mills	$72.67 +0.4%	0.23	16.86	$42.53 billion	2.48 million	3.43 million	Positive News
EIG Employers	$39.36 +0.3%	0.23	8.59	$1.03 billion	77,700	134,438	Short Interest ↓
HAPP Happiness Development Group	$4.50 +1.4%	0.23	9.38	$31.30 million	1,500	14,340
FRO Frontline	$17.55 -0.4%	0.24	6.05	$3.91 billion	1.00 million	3.41 million
CIA Citizens	$2.98 -5.1%	0.24	15.69	$147.87 million	25,400	68,273
VIRT Virtu Financial	$18.79 -0.4%	0.25	13.82	$3.06 billion	542,400	1.16 million	Dividend Announcement
NATH Nathan's Famous	$78.00 +0.2%	0.25	16.05	$318.24 million	4,000	9,320
UBCP United Bancorp	$11.86 +2.0%	0.26	7.75	$70.09 million	1,600	4,304	Short Interest ↑
CNF CNFinance	$3.29 +3.5%	0.26	11.75	$225.63 million	27,900	23,097
OPOF Old Point Financial	$19.07 -0.6%	0.27	9.44	$94.78 million	200	4,084	Analyst Report
QDEL QuidelOrtho	$77.93 +0.7%	0.27	118.08	$5.20 billion	639,000	436,409	Earnings Report Positive News
HSY Hershey	$223.57 -0.1%	0.28	25.73	$45.71 billion	842,500	1.11 million	Analyst Report Short Interest ↓ Analyst Revision
AAME Atlantic American	$1.81 +2.3%	0.28	181.00	$36.92 million	2,800	5,201	Dividend Announcement Analyst Report Short Interest ↓ Positive News Gap Down
ESSA ESSA Bancorp	$17.33 +0.4%	0.28	8.54	$180.23 million	10,900	23,154	Short Interest ↓
CZFS Citizens Financial Services	$62.20 -1.4%	0.28	13.66	$292.61 million	18,200	18,629	Short Interest ↓ Positive News
DG Dollar General	$164.85 -1.3%	0.28	15.54	$36.16 billion	1.67 million	2.40 million	Short Interest ↑ Analyst Revision
SAFT Safety Insurance Group	$71.31 -0.5%	0.28	29.71	$1.05 billion	42,400	73,940
FVCB FVCBankcorp	$13.40 -2.2%	0.28	15.58	$237.18 million	32,400	46,744	Insider Selling Gap Down
GRVY Gravity	$72.26 +3.8%	0.28	5.13	$502.21 million	72,400	23,665	Short Interest ↑ High Trading Volume
CLX Clorox	$160.99 +0.3%	0.29	135.29	$19.90 billion	793,300	1.22 million
EQC Equity Commonwealth	$18.97 -1.5%	0.29	33.28	$2.08 billion	1.39 million	1.07 million
PFIS Peoples Financial Services	$46.88 +1.4%	0.29	9.36	$332.38 million	6,700	10,991	News Coverage Positive News
CTRA Coterra Energy	$28.05 +0.8%	0.29	7.03	$21.18 billion	5.62 million	7.93 million	Dividend Announcement
JBSS John B. Sanfilippo & Son	$106.00 +0.8%	0.29	18.79	$1.23 billion	42,400	70,504	Short Interest ↓ Positive News
LRN Stride	$39.59 +1.1%	0.29	15.17	$1.70 billion	222,100	459,039	Upcoming Earnings
OFED Oconee Federal Financial	$13.20 +1.5%	0.30	21.29	$74.05 million	5,100	3,431	Earnings Report Dividend Announcement Gap Down
BFC Bank First	$83.52 +0.7%	0.30	16.22	$867.77 million	14,000	22,455	Short Interest ↓ Positive News
SWKH SWK	$16.12 -0.1%	0.30	11.51	$206.50 million	8,500	11,691
CFFI C&F Financial	$57.80 -0.1%	0.30	6.78	$195.94 million	2,900	9,761	Positive News
TDSA Cabana Target Drawdown 5 ETF	$20.74 +0.1%	0.30	14.52	$16.59 million	4,300	12,954	Positive News
GCBC Greene County Bancorp	$35.89 +6.0%	0.30	19.77	$611.21 million	32,900	19,259	Ex-Dividend
ICCH ICC	$15.95 -3.3%	0.31	7.94	$50.24 million	1,200	1,528	Gap Down

CRCT Cricut	$10.33 -4.0%	0.31	46.96	$2.26 billion	381,600	227,621	Earnings Report Positive News Gap Down
CPB Campbell Soup	$44.05 +0.1%	0.32	16.88	$13.13 billion	1.50 million	2.43 million	Short Interest ↓
LARK Landmark Bancorp	$20.61 -0.7%	0.32	10.38	$107.58 million	7,000	3,945	Dividend Announcement Analyst Report Short Interest ↑
PINC Premier	$26.92 +0.5%	0.32	17.48	$3.21 billion	454,900	675,948	Dividend Announcement
MRK Merck & Co., Inc.	$107.44 +1.8%	0.33	88.07	$272.63 billion	5.90 million	7.84 million	Analyst Upgrade Short Interest ↓
FCAP First Capital	$36.81 -0.1%	0.33	9.34	$123.68 million	400	4,610	Analyst Report Short Interest ↑
USCB USCB Financial	$11.46	0.33	11.46	$224.85 million	34,000	25,190	Positive News
AMSF AMERISAFE	$52.66 -0.2%	0.33	15.58	$1.01 billion	40,900	85,425	Short Interest ↓ Analyst Revision
SPOK Spok	$14.29 -0.3%	0.33	8.21	$285.37 million	211,400	237,661	Positive News
OCUP Ocuphire Pharma	$4.22 +1.9%	0.33	5.02	$88.41 million	75,200	235,208	Earnings Report Gap Up

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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