A few years ago, the Value Line Investment Survey reported the following market betas for the stock selected healthcare providers:
Company Beta
Quorum Health Group 0.90
Beverly Enterprises 1.20
HEALTHSOUTH corp 1.45
United Healthcare 1.70
At the times these Betas were developed, resonable estimates for the risk-frfee rate, RF, and required rate of return on the market, R(Rm), were 6.5 percent and 13.5 percent, respectively.
a. What are the required rates of return on the four stocks?
b. Why do their required rates of return differ?
c. Suppose that a person is planning to invest in olny one stock rather than a well-diversified stock portfolio. Are the required rates of return calculated above applicable to the investment> Explain your answer.