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Implied Asset Volatility Factor

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Academic paper

Implied Asset Return Profiles, Firm Fundamentals, and Stock Returns

AuthorsJongsub Lee; Andy Naranjo; Stace Sirmans

Institute
  • KRSeoul National University
  • University of Florida
  • ?University of Florida - Warrington College of Business Administration
  • Auburn University
  • ?Auburn University - Department of Finance

Strategy in a nutshell

Universe: NYSE, AMEX, Nasdaq stocks with market cap ≥ $100M, price ≥ $1, and 5-year CDS. Use Merton’s model to compute 6-month asset return and volatility changes. Stocks are double-sorted by return and volatility:

Short top volatility quintile within each return quintile.

Equally weighted, monthly rebalanced.

Long bottom volatility quintile,

Economic rationale

Asset volatility changes predict future returns: higher volatility changes (conditional on returns) signal lower future returns and higher idiosyncratic earnings volatility. This factor is persistent, tied to firm fundamentals, and not explained by common risk factors.

Backtest performance

Annualised return5.91%
Volatility4.86%
Sharpe ratio0.93