Chapter II: This survey looks at historical volatility of Applied Materials prices. The risks associated with long and short term positions can be evaluated according to projected shapes of the Volatility Curve. |
| Prev. Co. | Next Co. | |
|
| ||
|
This chart shows Volatility for Applied Materials, defined to be the price range as a portion of the average price: So, to derive the Daily Volatility on 2/22/2011 of 4%, the price range for the day (0.65) was divided by the average price (15.95). Daily Volatility (the daily range as a portion of the daily average price) is plotted in green. Blue is Weekly Volatility, which is the weekly range as a portion of the weekly average price. It is important to avoid confusing this with the weekly average of the daily volatility, which is a completely different concept. The red plot shows the actual price. Volatility, as measured through various intervals, ( Daily, Weekly, Monthly and Quarterly) is plotted according to color. Investors often make a distinction between the concept of Volatility, and the concept of Risk. Academics define them to be exactly equivalent, but as can be seen here, there is good reason to distinguish between the levels of volatility or risk experienced across different time frames. During 27 years, the Average Quarterly Volatility of AMAT stock price has been 37% while the Average Daily Volatility has been 4%. |
| Prev. Co. | Next Co. | |
| ||
|
You may be familiar with the "yield curve" which shows how interest bearing yields vary according to term. Each Volatility Curve is a snapshot in time. From left to right, each position plots the Volatility associated with increasing intervals of time. The relationship between the length of time, and the expected change in price, is not linear, as is demonstrated by this chart. |
| Prev. Co. | Next Co. | |
| ||
|
A frequency distribution of the green points on the first chart (the daily volatility) yields this histogram. |
| Prev. Co. | Next Co. | |
| ||
|
In a similar vein, the Frequency Distribution of the Quarterly Volatility is plotted here. This is the distribution of the values plotted in purple on the top chart from this page. |
Refined Volatility Risk Analysis for AMAT : |
| Friday, February 18, 2011: We have news on Fiserv, Inc., ticker symbol FISV. Signs of an over-bought condition have become noticable. Also, there are breaking events concerning Zimmer Holdings, Inc. and D.R. Horton, Inc.. From the News Archive: (2/18/2011 ) Favorable events happened at Robert Half International Inc. and Southwestern Energy Company. Meanwhile, bad news came from McCormick & Company, Incorporated and Reynolds American, Inc.. |