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CAPM Pricing: Risk-Adjusted Payoffs and Discount Rates

Article Quant Q&A · Author: user26356

Summary

The note derives two CAPM asset-pricing forms: discounting an expected payoff by a risk-adjusted required return, and discounting a risk-adjusted expected payoff at the risk-free rate. It starts with the CAPM expected-return equation and relates an asset’s beta to its covariance with the market return. Substitution yields a covariance adjustment proportional to the market risk premium divided by market variance, which the answer identifies as the market price of risk.

The explanation says positive market covariance lowers the adjusted payoff and price, while negative covariance raises them; an uncorrelated payoff receives no covariance adjustment. The derivation is schematic and its notation is inconsistent: it writes covariance involving an expected payoff, though CAPM pricing ordinarily uses the random payoff’s covariance with the market return. The note therefore illustrates the relationship between the two forms, but readers should check the payoff and return definitions before applying the equations.

Key ideas

  • CAPM discounts expected returns at the risk-free rate plus beta times the market risk premium.
  • Asset beta relates market covariance to market variance.
  • The certainty-equivalent form subtracts a market-risk adjustment from expected payoff before risk-free discounting.
  • Positive covariance with the market lowers the price, while negative covariance raises it.
  • The derivation’s covariance notation needs care when applying it to random payoffs.

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Full text
# Using CAPM to derive the following


# Using CAPM to derive the following












Background Information:

Say there are $s = 1,\ldots,S$ possible future outcomes (states) with known probabilities $\pi_s > 0$, $\sum_{s=1}^{S}\pi_s = 1$. Define the expected payoff as $\mathbb{E}_\pi\left[X\right] = \sum_s \pi_s x_s = \mu_x$

Question:

> The CAPM is often used to compute fair market prices of assets. There are two commonly used pricing formulae derived from the CAPM for this purpose. One solves for the price as the discounted risk-adjusted expected payoff $$P = \frac{\mathbb{E}\left[\tilde{X} - \Pi\right]}{(1+r_f)}$$ and the other solves for the price as the expected payoff discounted by a risk adjusted discount rate $$P = \frac{\mathbb{E}\left[\tilde{X}\right]}{(1+r_f + \pi)}$$ Derive both of these expression from the CAPM and identify the risk-adjustment returns.

Thoughts: I am not familiar with the notation above, and referring to the CAPM equation online I am not sure how to use that and derive the latter. Any thoughts or suggestions should help.

## Answer by Jakub Siwiec (score 2, accepted)

https://quant.stackexchange.com/a/32242

The standard formula for Capital Asset Pricing Model is:

\begin{equation} \bar{r} = r_f + \beta \cdot ( \bar{r_m} - r_f) \quad (1) \end{equation} in which: \begin{equation} \bar{r} \textit{ - expected return of an asset} \end{equation} \begin{equation} \ r_f \textit{ - risk-free rate} \end{equation} \begin{equation} \beta \textit{ - beta of an asset} \end{equation} \begin{equation} \bar{r_m} \textit{ - expected market return} \end{equation}

Expected return of an asset is the simple formula of expected price of an asset and a current price of an asset. For example, if the current price is 2 and the expected price is 3, then expected return is 50%.

\begin{equation} \bar{r} = \frac{E( \tilde{X} ) - P}{ P } \quad (2) \end{equation}

In other words the price is discounted expected price:

\begin{equation} \ P = \frac{E( \tilde{X} )}{ 1 + \bar{r} } \quad (3) \end{equation}

Combining the equations (1) and (3) we have your second equation:

\begin{equation} \ P = \frac{E( \tilde{X} )}{ 1 + r_f + \beta \cdot ( \bar{r_m} - r_f) } \quad (4) \end{equation}

The formula for an asset beta is:

\begin{equation} \beta = \frac{Cov( \bar{r}, \bar{r_m} )}{ \sigma_m^2} \quad (5) \end{equation}

After a little modification of the equation (2) we can use it in the equation (5).

\begin{equation} \beta = \frac{Cov( \frac{E( \tilde{X} )}{ P } - 1, \bar{r_m} )}{ \sigma_m^2} = \frac{Cov( E( \tilde{X} ), \bar{r_m} )}{ \sigma_m^2 \cdot P} \quad (6) \end{equation}

Going back to the equation (1)

\begin{equation} \bar{r} = r_f + \frac{Cov( E( \tilde{X} ), \bar{r_m} )}{ \sigma_m^2 \cdot P} \cdot ( \bar{r_m} - r_f) \quad (7) \end{equation}

After a little modification of the equation (3) and combining it with (7) we have:

\begin{equation} \frac{E( \tilde{X} )}{P} = 1 + r_f + \frac{Cov( E( \tilde{X} ), \bar{r_m} )}{ \sigma_m^2 \cdot P} \cdot ( \bar{r_m} - r_f) \quad (8) \end{equation}

After multiplying by P, and ordering the elements of the equation we have:

\begin{equation} \ P= \frac{E( \tilde{X} ) - \frac{ ( \bar{r_m} - r_f)}{ \sigma_m^2} \cdot Cov( E( \tilde{X} ), \bar{r_m} )}{1 + r_f} \quad (9) \end{equation}

Maybe you noticed that in the expression there is a market price of risk formula (how much market is willing to pay for the risk). We write it as lambda

\begin{equation} \lambda = \frac{ ( \bar{r_m} - r_f)}{ \sigma_m^2} \quad (10) \end{equation}

\begin{equation} \ P= \frac{E( \tilde{X} ) - \lambda \cdot Cov( E( \tilde{X} ), \bar{r_m} )}{1 + r_f} \quad (11) \end{equation}

Both (9) and (11) are your first formula written differently. We call them certainty-equivalent form of CAPM. It represents the price as the expression of present value of a risk-adjusted payoff. If the asset is uncorrelated with the market, then the result would be:

\begin{equation} \ P = \frac{E( \tilde{X} )}{ 1 + r_f} \quad (12) \end{equation}

Note that exactly the same result would occur, for your second formula.

If the asset is positively correlated with the market, then the adjustment expression (13) makes price lower. If the asset is negatively correlated with the market, then the price is higher. The value of the expression depends obviously also on the value market price of risk.

\begin{equation} \ - \lambda \cdot Cov( E( \tilde{X} ), \bar{r_m} ) \quad (13) \end{equation}

Shown in full with attribution under the source's licence. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0 (Stack Exchange)

This summary was written by Stratmill's research agent from the original; it is not a copy of the source.