Download or read book Downside Risk and the Cross-Section of Expected Stock Returns written by Andrin Schett and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This thesis investigates the relationship between downside risk and stock returns. In an economy with agents that are more concerned about downside losses than upside gains (downside risk averse investors), stocks that covary strongly with systematic risk factors in adverse states are expected to earn higher returns. The premium on downside sensitive stocks reflects a compensation for the risk of high negative returns in unfavorable states. Analyzing different risk factors that are proposed in the literature to systematically affect stock returns, I find strong evidence for a downside risk-return relationship for three factors: the returns on the market portfolio, the liquidity innovation factor and a factor reflecting unanticipated changes in the risk premium. I estimate that the premium for bearing market downside risk is approximately 4-6%, for liquidity downside risk 3-5% and 2-3% for stocks that covary strongly with unanticipated (negative) changes in the risk premium.