Chapter II: This survey looks at historical volatility of Whole Foods Market, Inc. prices. The risks associated with long and short term positions can be evaluated according to projected shapes of the Volatility Curve. |
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This chart shows Volatility for Whole Foods Market, Inc., defined to be the price range as a portion of the average price: So, to derive the Daily Volatility on 7/19/2010 of 2.9%, the price range for the day (1.09) was divided by the average price (36.79). 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. For reference, the price is plotted in red. 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 18 years, the Average Quarterly Volatility of WFMI stock price has been 34% while the Average Daily Volatility has been 4%. |
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If you have ever seen a "yield curve" you should be able to understand the concept behind this "yield curve". Each Volatility Curve is a snapshot in time. As the timespan across which Volatility is measured increases, the Volatility is expected to increase. The relationship between the length of time, and the expected change in price, is not linear, as is demonstrated by this chart. |
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A frequency distribution of the green points on the first chart (the daily volatility) yields this histogram. |
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Similarly, the purple points on the top chart, the Quarterly Volatility Values, are subjected to frequency distribution here. |
Refined Volatility Risk Analysis for WFMI : |
| Wednesday, July 28, 2010: We have news on W.W. Grainger, Inc., ticker symbol GWW. Signs of an over-bought condition have become noticable. Also, there are breaking events concerning Cummins Inc. and Quest Diagnostics Incorporated. From the News Archive: (7/27/2010 ) Favorable events happened at Lexmark International, Inc., Range Resources Corp., and Zimmer Holdings, Inc.. Meanwhile, bad news came from QUALCOMM, Inc.. |