Factor Investing Software
Factor Analysis – What is it
It’s based on the idea that an asset’s returns can be predicted using relationship between the asset’s expected return and a number of variables that capture systematic risk. Those variables are called factors and they cover company’s financials, trends, macroeconomic conditions, etc.
It is a useful tool to identify securities that may be temporarily mispriced, before the market eventually corrects and securities move back to their fair value.
The main task of factor analysis is to determine the distribution of factors in the current market.
Factors are the driving forces behind the market price movements. They explain why company B is doing better than company A.
If we can discover and quantify major factors on current market, we can determine their influence to each company on the market. Company with bigger exposure to factors that drives prices up will do better than others.
Look for factors that are generally independent and uncorrelated with one another. Combining exposure to multiple factors can actually decrease the volatility of a portfolio even while increasing the return.
We have been developing factor investing software that provides insight into the importance of factors that move stock prices. You can find more information about factor investing in our articles. We especially recommend the article Are Higher Earnings Always Better? Case Study from S&P 100 and the article In Factor Investing Even Best Can Lose – Data-Driven Insights into Factor-Based Analysis.