Finance and Financial Management Commons^™

The Effect Of Kurtosis On The Cross-Section Of Stock Returns, Abdullah Al Masud

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

In this study, I show an effect of the statistical fourth moment on stock returns. In the mean-variance framework, rational investors follow two strategies: optimize the mean{variance of return and diversify the portfolio. Regarding the first approach, investors intend to generate the maximum level of return while facing a constant level of risk (or, the standard deviation) of return. It is possible that firm specific risk can be concentrated in the portfolio. However, diversification of the assets can eliminate that (idiosyncratic) risk from the portfolio. After a long period of time, in a diversified portfolio the shape of the return …