Go to www.mhhe.com/edumarketinsight and click on the Company link. Enter the ticker symbol for the stock of your choice and click on the Go button. In the Excel Analytics section go to the Market Data section and get the Monthly Adjusted Prices data for the past 4 years. The page will also show monthly returns for your stock and for the S&P 500. Copy the data into an Excel worksheet and then do a regression to generate the characteristic line for the stock. [Use the menus for Tools, Data Analysis, Regression, input the X range and the Y range, select New Worksheet Ply under Output Options, and click on OK.] Based on the regression results, what is the beta coefficient for your stock?

Next use Excel to plot an X-Y Scatter graph of the stock's returns vs. the S&P 500's returns. Once the graph is constructed, select one of the data points and right click on it. Choose the Add Trendline option and select the Linear type. On the Options tab, select Display Equation on Chart. How does the equation compare with the regression results you got?

Go back to the main page for your stock's information and select S&P Stock Reports from the menu. Choose Stock Report from the submenu and when the Stock Report opens, find the beta coefficient for the firm. How does this beta compare to your results? What are the possible reasons for any differences?