Low Beta Stocks

Beta is the a calculation that measures the relative volatility of a stock in correlation to a particular standard. For U.S. stocks that standard is usually, but not always, the S&P 500. Beta is a form of regression analysis and it can be useful for investors regardless of their risk tolerance. Beta is considered one of the few data points that can be beneficial for practitioners of both fundamental analysis and technical analysis. This page lists stocks that have unusually low beta calculations, meaning there is little correlation between the price moves of these stocks and the S&P 500. Learn more about low beta stocks.

Company	Current Price	Beta	PE Ratio	Market Cap	Volume	Average Volume	Indicator(s)
WMPN William Penn Bancorporation	$11.48 +0.8%	0.01	38.27	$172.54 million	103,745	9,420	Positive News High Trading Volume
BMTX BM Technologies	$6.29 +2.3%	0.02	76.88	$76.99 million	33,690	63,050	Analyst Report Negative News
PLMR Palomar	$88.83 -0.8%	0.02	49.90	$2.24 billion	615	130,135
PV Primavera Capital Acquisition	$9.93 +0.1%	0.02	28.36	$533.47 million	27,369	48,043	News Coverage
AVO Mission Produce	$15.34 -1.3%	0.02	45.12	$1.08 billion	143	145,596	News Coverage
SOTK Sono-Tek	$6.69 +13.4%	0.02	66.91	$105.23 million	53,513	9,009	High Trading Volume
CIZN Citizens	$17.27 +1.6%	0.02	11.75	$96.71 million	2,991	1,737
BNTX BioNTech	$146.43 +1.6%	0.03	2.83	$35.54 billion	3,947	724,923	Analyst Report
PAQC Provident Acquisition	$9.93 +0.1%	0.03	38.19	$248.25 million	1,856	35,789	Upcoming Earnings
LANC Lancaster Colony	$170.10 -1.8%	0.04	52.34	$4.68 billion	1,452	142,242
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UFCS United Fire Group	$29.50 -0.7%	0.04	11.35	$741.34 million	1	61,851
EIG Employers	$38.09 +0.1%	0.05	20.81	$1.04 billion	22	83,145
GLBS Globus Maritime	$1.55	0.05	0.76	$16.38 million	51,484	273,678
IHT InnSuites Hospitality Trust	$2.50	0.06	41.67	$22.80 million	3,543	28,287	Positive News Gap Down
PFHD Professional	$27.25 +0.2%	0.06	19.33	$375.23 million	395	151,997
CHT Chunghwa Telecom	$38.73 -0.2%	0.06	23.33	$30.04 billion	263	121,340	News Coverage
CTRA Coterra Energy	$29.05 -0.2%	0.06	8.07	$23.11 billion	40,908	6.16 million	Analyst Revision
CTXS Citrix Systems	$103.48 +0.1%	0.08	39.95	$13.13 billion	5,718	669,074	News Coverage Positive News
NABL N-able	$9.74 +1.2%	0.08	139.16	$1.76 billion	562	312,406
ARTNA Artesian Resources	$53.99 +1.0%	0.08	29.03	$509.67 million	30,645	42,073	Positive News
FRO Frontline	$11.83 -1.8%	0.10	38.16	$2.41 billion	49,519	3.19 million	Analyst Upgrade Analyst Revision Gap Down
GRVY Gravity	$49.20 +1.2%	0.10	6.80	$341.94 million	17	13,754
ATHM Autohome	$33.36 -2.5%	0.11	18.23	$4.19 billion	1,331	562,363
QDEL QuidelOrtho	$81.95 +0.8%	0.12	3.47	$5.49 billion	1,877	685,055
HRL Hormel Foods	$46.41 -1.7%	0.12	25.36	$25.35 billion	10,058	1.41 million	Earnings Report Analyst Report Analyst Revision
PBHC Pathfinder Bancorp	$21.00 +2.5%	0.13	9.42	$97.02 million	5,345	2,039	Gap Up High Trading Volume
WMK Weis Markets	$79.38 -1.7%	0.13	17.96	$2.14 billion	131	65,194	News Coverage
OBT Orange County Bancorp	$36.99 +2.8%	0.13	11.01	$208.62 million	3,286	2,039
POWW AMMO	$3.49 -1.4%	0.14	17.45	$408.19 million	8,400	2.17 million
HMNF HMN Financial	$22.64 -0.2%	0.14	10.68	$102.09 million	2,910	3,690
CO Global Cord Blood	$2.21 -1.8%	0.16	3.45	$268.63 million	109,479	224,784	Upcoming Earnings
PFIS Peoples Financial Services	$48.00 -1.1%	0.16	7.78	$344.16 million	61,713	6,634	High Trading Volume
SWX Southwest Gas	$81.21 -0.7%	0.16	33.28	$5.43 billion	493	514,264
CIA Citizens	$3.68	0.17	6.03	$185.88 million	122	46,170
MGYR Magyar Bancorp	$12.99 +4.4%	0.18	12.49	$92.23 million	4,887	4,727	Gap Down
CLX Clorox	$143.11 -2.2%	0.18	38.47	$17.63 billion	8,055	717,918
FUTU Futu	$44.15 -0.6%	0.18	22.30	$6.64 billion	7,440	3.17 million
VLGEA Village Super Market	$21.70 -0.4%	0.19	13.40	$315.74 million	25	20,851
VALU Value Line	$81.39 +9.2%	0.19	32.56	$770.76 million	137	2,865	Upcoming Earnings Gap Down
CELU Celularity	$2.78 -3.8%	0.20	13.24	$384.50 million	5,826	611,462	Gap Down
SAFT Safety Insurance Group	$88.71 +1.5%	0.20	18.33	$1.31 billion	71,888	57,448
MPLN MultiPlan	$3.21 -4.2%	0.21	12.84	$2.05 billion	30,819	1.91 million
SWKH SWK	$16.37 -0.8%	0.21	16.88	$210.03 million	16,231	7,632	High Trading Volume
NATH Nathan's Famous	$63.63 -0.4%	0.21	17.48	$259.61 million	6,970	9,283	Gap Up
HCSG Healthcare Services Group	$13.52 -3.2%	0.21	33.80	$1.00 billion	1,571	434,298
OVBC Ohio Valley Banc	$27.32 -0.4%	0.21	11.38	$130.32 million	4,411	3,114
SJM J. M. Smucker	$138.66 -1.6%	0.22	25.49	$14.78 billion	2,132	832,507
NTUS Natus Medical	$32.96	0.22	89.08	$1.14 billion	130	325,002	Analyst Report
IGIC International General Insurance	$7.70 -0.4%	0.23	5.79	$379.69 million	19,188	29,307
ACNB ACNB	$34.00 -0.9%	0.23	10.93	$290.02 million	100	12,864

PPIH Perma-Pipe International	$9.10 -1.6%	0.24	12.64	$74.26 million	2	5,928
ATRI Atrion	$612.00 -1.6%	0.24	32.23	$1.10 billion	9	2,536
ED Consolidated Edison	$100.84 -0.4%	0.25	22.07	$35.76 billion	7,027	1.15 million
GURE Gulf Resources	$4.31 +1.0%	0.25	5.60	$45.13 million	4,911	9,929	News Coverage Gap Down
MSVB Mid-Southern Bancorp	$13.70	0.25	21.08	$39.32 million	11	672
AMSF AMERISAFE	$48.15 -0.5%	0.25	20.23	$928.33 million	123	70,379
ARKO Arko	$10.10 -0.3%	0.25	17.41	$1.21 billion	968	277,185	Positive News
OPFI OppFi	$2.58 -1.5%	0.26	1.24	$283 million	600	164,127
BFC Bank First	$76.72 -1.0%	0.26	13.20	$572.33 million	15	11,477
SCPL SciPlay	$11.01 +0.1%	0.26	14.88	$1.41 billion	952	231,692	Analyst Report
UTMD Utah Medical Products	$89.38 +4.3%	0.26	20.50	$323.56 million	3,718	3,635	News Coverage
JBSS John B. Sanfilippo & Son	$79.77 +3.1%	0.26	14.99	$919.75 million	52,862	67,548	Analyst Downgrade
FCAP First Capital	$27.10 -1.1%	0.26	8.26	$91.31 million	817	1,986
GBLI Global Indemnity Group	$24.93 -0.9%	0.26	-35.61	$362.23 million	8,762	6,113	Gap Down
ARTW Art's-Way Manufacturing	$2.44 +2.1%	0.27	48.81	$11.32 million	25,558	60,740
VIVO Meridian Bioscience	$31.79 -0.5%	0.27	32.11	$1.39 billion	1,960	308,132
ACRX AcelRx Pharmaceuticals	$0.29 -1.1%	0.27	0.99	$42.12 million	206,847	4.08 million	Gap Up
GCBC Greene County Bancorp	$54.00 +0.5%	0.27	16.41	$459.54 million	1	13,762	Positive News
CMS CMS Energy	$69.43 -0.4%	0.28	15.26	$20.15 billion	6,926	1.75 million
CLBK Columbia Financial	$21.19 -0.1%	0.28	24.93	$2.34 billion	527	84,516
PRA ProAssurance	$21.05 0.0%	0.28	29.24	$1.14 billion	405	193,650
NHC National HealthCare	$70.23 +0.8%	0.28	35.12	$1.09 billion	35,273	25,942	Positive News
WEC WEC Energy Group	$106.00 -0.2%	0.28	24.48	$33.44 billion	6,148	974,151	Positive News
AAME Atlantic American	$2.99 +0.3%	0.29	27.18	$61.00 million	3,906	10,749	Gap Down
FLO Flowers Foods	$26.36 -2.2%	0.29	26.10	$5.58 billion	3,650	1.21 million
REGN Regeneron Pharmaceuticals	$677.45 +13.6%	0.29	13.52	$73.85 billion	17,507	465,388	Trading Halted
AMN AMN Healthcare Services	$102.65 -0.9%	0.29	10.45	$4.44 billion	1,391	581,649
QFIN 360 DigiTech	$13.34 -1.5%	0.29	2.72	$2.03 billion	4,877	945,162
BGS B&G Foods	$19.83 -3.9%	0.29	33.61	$1.42 billion	5,076	730,899
NEM Newmont	$42.13 -0.5%	0.29	42.56	$33.44 billion	91,410	8.10 million	Analyst Upgrade
GNE Genie Energy	$9.55 +1.7%	0.29	3.19	$250.21 million	641	104,204	Positive News
CZFS Citizens Financial Services	$77.22 -2.3%	0.30	11.11	$306.56 million	1,212	3,500	Dividend Increase Positive News
AWR American States Water	$83.37 -0.5%	0.30	37.39	$3.08 billion	540	116,649
PLTK Playtika	$10.06 -0.7%	0.30	13.59	$4.15 billion	5,979	1.62 million
DQ Daqo New Energy	$62.61 -8.7%	0.30	2.99	$4.67 billion	18,999	1.46 million	Positive News
RPRX Royalty Pharma	$42.75 +0.1%	0.30	55.52	$25.96 billion	15,822	1.40 million
FCN FTI Consulting	$158.20 +0.1%	0.30	25.85	$5.46 billion	129	173,890
IMTX Immatics	$12.85 -1.1%	0.30	26.77	$808.39 million	100	294,243
EPSN Epsilon Energy	$6.70 -0.7%	0.30	6.26	$153.97 million	110	105,596
QIPT Quipt Home Medical	$4.88 +2.1%	0.30	81.35	$165.19 million	188,854	87,912	High Trading Volume
KMB Kimberly-Clark	$124.61 -2.2%	0.31	23.56	$42.07 billion	12,272	1.12 million	News Coverage
GILD Gilead Sciences	$65.25 +0.7%	0.31	19.89	$81.78 billion	245,888	5.82 million
SR Spire	$69.09 -1.4%	0.31	17.63	$3.63 billion	518	218,594	Analyst Downgrade
FREE Whole Earth Brands	$4.95 -1.4%	0.31	19.04	$207.75 million	10,365	266,518
PNW Pinnacle West Capital	$76.46 -0.3%	0.31	15.80	$8.64 billion	1,672	706,188
JCTCF Jewett-Cameron Trading	$6.47 -0.9%	0.31	11.16	$22.59 million	2,570	2,262
EGAN eGain	$8.71 -1.4%	0.31	290.33	$277.15 million	39	135,041	News Coverage
GRFS Grifols	$7.77 -0.1%	0.31	6.28	$5.34 billion	19,502	683,442
ESSA ESSA Bancorp	$20.00 +0.8%	0.31	10.81	$207.60 million	301	14,862
PHI PLDT	$28.39 -1.9%	0.32	10.36	$6.13 billion	63	63,788

What Are Low Beta Stocks

Many retail investors assume that you can’t predict the stock market. And since you can’t predict it, they assume that investing in stocks carries a certain amount of risk. Well, as it turns out, there is a way to assess the risk of a particular security: it’s called beta. Low beta stocks are those securities that carry the lowest amount of risk.

How to Use Low Beta Stocks to Minimize Risk and Increase Returns

What Is the Beta of a Stock?
How to Calculate Beta
Low Beta Strategy
How to Reduce Risk in Your Portfolio
Is It Smart to Invest in Low Beta Stocks?

Beta is essentially a measure of a stock’s volatility. Risk level is one of the most important stats to analyze in terms of investing in stocks. A comparison of a stock’s risk factor to your own level of risk tolerance will help you know whether to buy, sell, or avoid a certain security. Beta is the number that will help you understand a stock’s level of risk and make those decisions.

What Is the Beta of a Stock?

In the simplest terms, beta is a tool that compares how volatile a stock is in comparison to the overall market. The stock market is the “control” and has a definitive benchmark beta of 1.0, while each individual security is the “variable,” with a beta that varies in terms of how much the stock moves around.

A stock that is more volatile than the market has a beta of more than 1.0, while a stock that is less volatile than the market has a beta of less than 1.0. If you’re a short-term trader riding the market waves and looking at stock market gainers, stock beta can let you know which securities might be the riskiest—then you can decide whether or not to get involved.

As you can see from this explanation, risky stocks are not the only ones that carry risk. Every one of the individual stocks can be viewed as a risky stock to some degree, even if the degree is negligible. Even in bull markets, when it seems like the sky’s the limit forever, it’s impossible for a stock to mirror the benchmark.

How to Calculate Beta

The beta of a stock is calculated using regression analysis. In short, regression analysis is all about comparing one stable variable with other changing variables. The formula for calculating a stock’s beta is simple in theory—beta is found by dividing covariance by variance.

Covariance represents how similar or dissimilar two numbers are in their movements—in this case, a stock is being compared to the market. Positive numbers indicate that their movement is similar. Negative numbers indicate that their movements are different.

Variance represents how much the “control” variable bounces around in comparison to its mean—its normal state. To keep it short and sweet, a stock’s beta is calculated with the intention of assessing how similar or divergent a stock’s movement is in comparison to the market—and thereby determining its volatility. Beta, in turn, can be worked into a complex equation to create a Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM). This equation helps calculate the expected return of an asset, using its risk-free rate as a starting point (a hypothetical rate of return involving no risk).

Beyond beta, other formulas, such as the Sharpe Ratio—which uses standard deviation—can help investors determine how much additional yield they’ll get for every increase per unit of risk. Then there is tracking error, which helps investors understand how much performance has deviated from the intended benchmark.

As you can see, beta is the gateway stat for an in-depth, computational way of growing equity through leveraging statistical opportunities in the stock market.

Low Beta Strategy

Low Beta Strategy focuses on investing in securities that have a low beta. These are stocks issued by companies in a sector like consumer goods, food, and utilities. This type of asset tends to avoid wild fluctuations because its line of business is both necessary and consistent. For example, utility companies exert a relative monopoly over their local region and face little competition in their sector.

Low Beta stocks are safer in terms of price when the market is down—they match the market, and don’t wildly plummet while the market is coasting. However, when the market is up, the same logic applies: these stocks gain less than some of their more volatile counterparts.

Some investment strategies actually involving investing in both low and high beta stocks simultaneously. Stocks with a higher beta—which can experience greater price fluctuations—can present opportunities for big gains through short-term trading of these volatility stocks. To offset potential losses, the investor will also buy into stocks with a lower beta and hold onto them for longer periods of time. This statistical arbitrage strategy is referred to as the bet against beta.

How to Reduce Risk in Your Portfolio

Unfortunately, beta is not a catchall indicator that can prevent losing your earnings to risky investments. While beta is a mathematical measure of how volatile a stock is in comparison to the market, it says nothing about other factors, like how a company operates, its debt, or current events that can affect its operations—such as its potential in regard to future earnings.

For example, a company in a stable industry like utilities can be poorly run, on the brink of bankruptcy, and facing a cataclysmic shutdown due to a recent energy-related event—but because it’s historically moved in close tandem with the overall market, it’s beta is low. Doesn’t sound like a good investment, does it?

One way to reduce risk in your portfolio is to diversify your investments. In terms of stocks, this can mean diversifying your portfolio through a range of companies and industries. However, if you want to truly minimize risk, the majority of your portfolio should be invested in stable, established, non-speculative securities, and preferably ones that pay good dividends or offer opportunities for growth.

One of the easiest ways to avoid risk is to invest in mutual funds or ETFs. This type of fund pools money from a number of investors. With a larger amount of money to play with, mutual fund managers can spread it out over a broader range of securities than each individual investor would be able to buy on their own. You can also diversify risk by investing in different types of asset classes. Between stocks, bonds, commodities, real estate, and business ownership, there are a number of vehicles for producing cash flow. A capital asset like a paid-off rental property can even produce free cash flow, unencumbered by expenses (this is every investor’s golden egg).

If your money is diversified, when one of your investments takes a hit, you won’t have to lose all your eggs—you’ve placed them in different baskets. While much ink has been spilled about which type of asset can consistently outperform the others in terms of growth, everyone can agree that at different times one asset outperforms the others; they all carry a degree of historical volatility (even real estate).

If you do want to pick out which stock comprises your portfolio, another strategy for reducing risk is to invest in established, stable companies—but these companies are stable beyond their beta score. Large blue-chip companies, like those you’ll find in Warren Buffet’s portfolio, have been around for decades. They are well run, well-financed, and have low amounts of debt. Beta says nothing about the degree of competence with which a company is run, although competently-run, long-standing companies usually do have a lower beta score.

Even if you’re trying to avoid too much risk, most financiers would agree that it’s okay to take a small percentage of your portfolio (financial experts such as Benjamin Graham have suggested no more than 5%) and look at cheap stocks to buy. These stocks might be riskier, but they can also provide good returns if they work out. If they don’t, your losses will be marginal.

Is It Smart to Invest in Low Beta Stocks?

While beta is used to analyze risk, it does have some shortcomings. As mentioned, beta is a comparative statistic that says nothing about how a company is run. It’s been described by analysts as a sort of rearview mirror, reflecting what’s behind, but not necessarily what’s ahead (which, by contrast, is very impacted by the degree of managerial competence and current events).

That said, beta can be a good tool for short-game investors looking to minimize risk. For long-term investors, it’s not necessarily that useful.

Moreover, beta is a number that says nothing about a stock’s price movement in terms of whether it’s going up or down. All beta tells you is a stock’s volatility relative to the market. This is especially problematic in light of the fact that investors, especially short-term traders, make their moves based on stock prices. However, in conjunction with other stats that give a more complete picture of a stock and its performance, beta can be a useful tool for assessing a security’s level of risk—for short term investors. Long-term investors will want to get a more complete picture of a company, how it’s run, and its level of debt before making an investment.

Investors should not just look at a stock’s beta, but also examine their own level of risk tolerance. Younger investors building a retirement portfolio can afford to take on more risks. After all, they have decades of investment ahead of them. Older investors nearing retirement want to avoid risk and do what they can to stabilize their portfolio as much as possible since it will become a source of income.

There are many strategies for investing in stocks, and they all depend on the investor's preferred mode of gain. A dividend investing strategy can turn rivulets of pennies into a mighty dividend stream, which is great for investors who want passive income. Day trading is great for investors who are skilled enough to leverage swings in the most volatile stocks at the drop of a hat. Other investors might find themselves somewhere between the long game and the short game, figuring out the best growth stocks to scoop up and sell at a profit weeks or months later.

Institutional investors may make a beta calculation as part of their equity and growth strategy, but it’s not the only tool they leverage for assessing how to respond to systematic risk. They do an in-depth micro and macro analysis of stats like market capitalization and general market volatility. Investors also perform fundamental and financial analysis of a company to consider future growth and dividend yield.

Low Beta Stocks

Beta tells you how risky a stock is by comparing its activity to that of the market. It’s important to combine financial signifiers like beta and even professional analyst ratings with fundamental analysis of a company. Alternatively, you can turn over investment decisions to a money manager.

Assessing the balance between risk and reward as it relates to financial gain is the bread and butter of short-term trading. But if short-term trading is not for you, you may consider other strategies such as searching for dividend-paying stocks, the snowballing equity of which can be rolled back into more dividend stocks. Retail investors can also piggyback invest by mimicking the portfolio of established investors with a track record of success. These strategies can be a much easier way for the average investor to increase their stock market earnings than attempting to leverage stock market beta. However, if you are looking to leverage short positions through day trading or similarly short-term asset growth, beta can be a useful tool for determining the risk of a particular security.

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Low Beta Stocks

What Are Low Beta Stocks

What Is the Beta of a Stock?

How to Calculate Beta

Low Beta Strategy

How to Reduce Risk in Your Portfolio

Is It Smart to Invest in Low Beta Stocks?

Low Beta Stocks

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