Question: General Meters is considering two mergers. The first is with Firm A in its own volatile industry, the auto speedometer industry, whereas the second is a merger with Firm B in an industry that moves in the opposite direction (and will tend to level out performance due to negative correlation).
a. Compute the mean, standard deviation, and coefficient of variation for both investments.
b. Assuming investors are risk-averse, which alternative can be expected to bring the higher valuation?