IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/arx/papers/2606.19550.html

Which Portfolios? The Construction Dependence of Factor Model Performance

Author

Listed:
  • Useong Shin

Abstract

Factor-model performance depends not only on the model but also on how test assets are constructed. We form characteristic-unsorted random portfolios from a broad CRSP universe and vary stock selection, initial weighting, holding, and rebalancing. Rankings shift materially: buy-and-hold favors FF5 and FF6, whereas daily constant-weighting favors FF3, the most stable model across designs. Although q5 attains the highest maximum Sharpe ratio in factor-spanning tests, it leaves comparatively large and construction-sensitive pricing errors on random portfolios. These results reflect construction-specific weighting of each model's pricing-error vector. Test-asset construction, including dynamic weight management, is therefore a design choice in model evaluation.

Suggested Citation

  • Useong Shin, 2026. "Which Portfolios? The Construction Dependence of Factor Model Performance," Papers 2606.19550, arXiv.org.
    • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:2606.19550
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2606.19550
    File Function: Latest version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hansen, Lars Peter & Jagannathan, Ravi, 1997. "Assessing Specification Errors in Stochastic Discount Factor Models," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(2), pages 557-590, June.
    2. Gibbons, Michael R & Ross, Stephen A & Shanken, Jay, 1989. "A Test of the Efficiency of a Given Portfolio," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 57(5), pages 1121-1152, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Stefan Nagel, 2013. "Empirical Cross-Sectional Asset Pricing," Annual Review of Financial Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 5(1), pages 167-199, November.
    2. Zhou, Guofu, 1999. "Security factors as linear combinations of economic variables," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 2(4), pages 403-432, November.
    3. Daniele Massacci & Lucio Sarno & Lorenzo Trapani & Pierluigi Vallarino, 2025. "A General Randomized Test for Alpha," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 25-045/III, Tinbergen Institute.
    4. Kim, Jinyong & Kim, Kun Ho & Lee, Jeong Hwan, 2021. "Cross-sectional tests of asset pricing models with full-rank mimicking portfolios," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    5. MacKinlay, A. Craig, 1995. "Multifactor models do not explain deviations from the CAPM," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 3-28, May.
    6. Andrew Ang & Ked Hogan & Sara Shores, 2018. "Factor risk premiums and invested capital: calculations with stochastic discount factors," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 19(3), pages 145-155, May.
    7. Useong Shin, 2026. "Overshooting the Coordinate: Where Factor Corrections Land on Characteristic Axes," Papers 2607.05091, arXiv.org, revised Jul 2026.
    8. Glabadanidis, Paskalis, 2009. "Measuring the economic significance of mean-variance spanning," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 49(2), pages 596-616, May.
    9. Lewellen, Jonathan & Nagel, Stefan & Shanken, Jay, 2010. "A skeptical appraisal of asset pricing tests," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(2), pages 175-194, May.
    10. Fletcher, Jonathan, 2018. "Bayesian tests of global factor models," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 279-289.
    11. DeRoon, Frans A. & Nijman, Theo E., 2001. "Testing for mean-variance spanning: a survey," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 8(2), pages 111-155, May.
    12. Ravi Jagannathan & Yong Wang, 2005. "Consumption Risk and the Cost of Equity Capital," NBER Working Papers 11026, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Vendrame, Vasco & Guermat, Cherif & Tucker, Jon, 2018. "A conditional regime switching CAPM," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 1-11.
    14. Serdar Neslihanoglu & Stelios Bekiros & John McColl & Duncan Lee, 2021. "Multivariate time-varying parameter modelling for stock markets," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 61(2), pages 947-972, August.
    15. Roh, Tai-Yong & Lee, Changjun & Min, Byoung-Kyu, 2019. "Consumption growth predictability and asset prices," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 95-118.
    16. Jamali, Ibrahim & Yamani, Ehab & Smallwood, Aaron D., 2023. "An investment-based explanation of currency excess returns," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    17. Filippou, Ilias & Taylor, Mark P., 2023. "Forward-Looking Policy Rules and Currency Premia," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 58(1), pages 449-483, February.
    18. Adrian, Tobias & Franzoni, Francesco, 2009. "Learning about beta: Time-varying factor loadings, expected returns, and the conditional CAPM," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 537-556, September.
    19. Amit Goyal, 2012. "Empirical cross-sectional asset pricing: a survey," Financial Markets and Portfolio Management, Springer;Swiss Society for Financial Market Research, vol. 26(1), pages 3-38, March.
    20. Balvers, Ronald J. & Huang, Dayong, 2009. "Evaluation of linear asset pricing models by implied portfolio performance," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(9), pages 1586-1596, September.

    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:arx:papers:2606.19550. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: arXiv administrators (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://arxiv.org/ .

    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.