IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/eufman/v5y1999i1p9-27.html

The Role of Beta and Size in the Cross‐Section of European Stock Returns

Author

Listed:
  • Steven L. Heston
  • K. Geert Rouwenhorst
  • Roberto E. Wessels

Abstract

This paper examines the ability of beta and size to explain cross‐sectional variation in average returns in 12 European countries. We find that average stock returns are positively related to beta and negatively related to firm size. The beta premium is in part due to the fact that high beta countries outperform low beta countries. Within countries high beta stocks outperform low beta stocks only in January, not in other months. We reject the hypothesis that differences in average returns on size‐ and beta‐sorted portfolios can be explained by market risk and exposure to the excess return of small over large stocks (SMB). Consistent with recent US evidence, we find that after controlling for size, there is no association between average returns and exposure to SMB.

Suggested Citation

  • Steven L. Heston & K. Geert Rouwenhorst & Roberto E. Wessels, 1999. "The Role of Beta and Size in the Cross‐Section of European Stock Returns," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 5(1), pages 9-27, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:eufman:v:5:y:1999:i:1:p:9-27
    DOI: 10.1111/1468-036X.00077
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-036X.00077
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/1468-036X.00077?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:eufman:v:5:y:1999:i:1:p:9-27. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/efmaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.