Dataford
Interview Guides
Upgrade
All questions/Statistics & Probability/Linear Regression for Stock Returns

Linear Regression for Stock Returns

Easy
Statistics & Probability
CorrelationRegressionCausal Inference

Problem

Business Context

At NorthBridge Capital, an analyst wants to explain how regression analysis is used in financial data by modeling a stock's monthly return as a function of the market's monthly return. This is a standard way to estimate the stock's market sensitivity and test whether it tends to outperform after adjusting for market movement.

Problem Statement

Use simple linear regression to model the relationship between AlphaTech's monthly return and the market index return:

Rstock=α+βRmarket+εR_{stock} = \alpha + \beta R_{market} + \varepsilonRstock​=α+βRmarket​+ε

Estimate the regression coefficients, test whether the slope is statistically different from 0, and interpret the results in financial terms.

Given Data

You are given summary statistics from 24 monthly observations.

MetricValue
Number of months nnn24
Mean market return xˉ\bar{x}xˉ0.008
Mean stock return yˉ\bar{y}yˉ​0.011
Sum of squares of market returns Sxx=∑(xi−xˉ)2S_{xx} = \sum (x_i-\bar{x})^2Sxx​=∑(xi​−xˉ)20.0184
Sum of cross products Sxy=∑(xi−xˉ)(yi−yˉ)S_{xy} = \sum (x_i-\bar{x})(y_i-\bar{y})Sxy​=∑(xi​−xˉ)(yi​−yˉ​)0.0258
Sum of squares of stock returns Syy=∑(yi−yˉ)2S_{yy} = \sum (y_i-\bar{y})^2Syy​=∑(yi​−yˉ​)20.0412
Significance level α\alphaα0.05

Requirements

  1. Estimate the slope β^\hat{\beta}β^​ and intercept α^\hat{\alpha}α^
  2. Compute R2R^2R2 and explain what it means
  3. Test H0:β=0H_0: \beta = 0H0​:β=0 versus H1:βeq0H_1: \beta eq 0H1​:βeq0
  4. Construct a 95% confidence interval for β\betaβ
  5. Interpret the regression in plain financial language

Assumptions

  • The linear relationship between market and stock returns is appropriate over this period
  • Monthly observations are treated as independent
  • Regression residuals have constant variance and are approximately normal for inference

Problem

Business Context

At NorthBridge Capital, an analyst wants to explain how regression analysis is used in financial data by modeling a stock's monthly return as a function of the market's monthly return. This is a standard way to estimate the stock's market sensitivity and test whether it tends to outperform after adjusting for market movement.

Problem Statement

Use simple linear regression to model the relationship between AlphaTech's monthly return and the market index return:

Rstock=α+βRmarket+εR_{stock} = \alpha + \beta R_{market} + \varepsilonRstock​=α+βRmarket​+ε

Estimate the regression coefficients, test whether the slope is statistically different from 0, and interpret the results in financial terms.

Given Data

You are given summary statistics from 24 monthly observations.

MetricValue
Number of months nnn24
Mean market return xˉ\bar{x}xˉ0.008
Mean stock return yˉ\bar{y}yˉ​0.011
Sum of squares of market returns Sxx=∑(xi−xˉ)2S_{xx} = \sum (x_i-\bar{x})^2Sxx​=∑(xi​−xˉ)20.0184
Sum of cross products Sxy=∑(xi−xˉ)(yi−yˉ)S_{xy} = \sum (x_i-\bar{x})(y_i-\bar{y})Sxy​=∑(xi​−xˉ)(yi​−yˉ​)0.0258
Sum of squares of stock returns Syy=∑(yi−yˉ)2S_{yy} = \sum (y_i-\bar{y})^2Syy​=∑(yi​−yˉ​)20.0412
Significance level α\alphaα0.05

Requirements

  1. Estimate the slope β^\hat{\beta}β^​ and intercept α^\hat{\alpha}α^
  2. Compute R2R^2R2 and explain what it means
  3. Test H0:β=0H_0: \beta = 0H0​:β=0 versus H1:βeq0H_1: \beta eq 0H1​:βeq0
  4. Construct a 95% confidence interval for β\betaβ
  5. Interpret the regression in plain financial language

Assumptions

  • The linear relationship between market and stock returns is appropriate over this period
  • Monthly observations are treated as independent
  • Regression residuals have constant variance and are approximately normal for inference
Your answer
Try one AI text evaluation on us
Get structured feedback, scored against a 4-axis rubric. Premium unlocks unlimited.
0 wordstarget ~200
Up next
Balyasny Asset ManagementR-Squared for Stock Return ModelsEasyExpected Return for Asset PricingEasyCITIC GroupEvaluate Financial Data with Regression AnalysisMedium
Next question