The study investigates whether the main capital market theories and pricing models provide a reasonably accurate description of the working and efficiency of capital markets, of the pricing of shares and options and the effect the risk/return relationship has on investor behaviour. The capital market theories and pricing models included in the study are Portfolio Theory, the Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH), the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM), the Arbitrage Pricing Theory (APT), Options Theory and the BlackScholes (8-S) Option Pricing Model. The main conclusion of the study is that the main capital market theories and pricing models, as reviewed in the study, do provide a reasonably accurate description of reality, but a number of anomalies and controversial issues still need to be resolved. The main recommendation of the study is that research into these theories and models should continue unabated, while the specific recommendations in a South African context are the following: ( 1) the benefits of global diversification for South African investors should continue to be investigated; (2) the level and degree of efficiency of the JSE Securities Exchange SA (JSE) should continue to be monitored, and it should be established whether alternative theories to the EMH provide complementary or better descriptions of the efficiency of the South African market; (3) both the CAPM and the APT should continue to be tested, both individually and jointly, in order to better understand the pricing mechanism of, and risk/return relationship on the JSE; (4) much South African research still needs to be conducted on the efficiency of the relatively new options market and the application of the B-S Option Pricing Model under South African conditions. / Financial Accounting / M. Com. (Accounting)

Using three different models, we examine the determinants of average stock returns on the Stockholm Stock Exchange during 2012-2016. By using time-series data, we find that a Fama-French three-factor model (directed at capturing size and book-to-market ratio) functions quite well in the Swedish stock market and is able to explain the variation in returns better than the traditional CAPM. Additionally, we investigated if the addition of a Price/Earning variable to the Fama-French model would increase the explanatory power of the expected returns of the different dependent variables portfolios. We conclude that the P/E ratio does not influence the expected returns in the sample we used.

The subject of this diploma thesis is valuation of the production company XY, s.r.o. by using income- based valuation methods. In the first part of this thesis is a strategic analysis, financial analysis and SWOT analysis. In conclusion are used income- based methods and determine the value of the company at 31.12.2011.

The work is focussed on the determination of capital structure in its market values, determination of the cost of non-own capital, and determination of the cost of equity, primarily by using the CAPM method. In terms of the CAPM procedure the work deals with the main parameters required by the method, such as risk-free yield rate, risk market premium, and beta coefficient. Furthermore, attention is given to modifications resulting from the inaccuracies of the CAPM method to make the method correspond as much as possible with the actual yield and risk of shares historically achieved at the capital market, and likewise to modifications needed when applying the CAPM method to the valuation of Czech businesses. The recommended procedure of determining the market discount rate for the valuation of an enterprise is applied on an example. Data obtained from the capital market of the Czech Republic are used to calculate the risk premium of the Czech capital market and beta coefficient of selected ten shares out of the Czech capital market, giving an assessment of the possibility of using the data obtained from the Czech capital market for the valuation of businesses incorporated in the Czech Republic.

台灣不動產投資信託（T-REITs）自2005年發行至今已逾六年，然其市場表現仍不如發行之初所預期。過去國內已有許多研究針對T-REITs市場發展進行探討，然而目前就T-REITs與直接不動產投資市場價格表現間之相關研究尚付之闕如。有鑑於此，本研究藉由共整合與Granger因果關係檢定，檢視REITs與直接不動產市場間之關聯性，了解台灣與美國之REITs市場表現差異及其影響因素，進而作為改進T-REITs運作機制或架構之參考依據。 實證結果發現，美國之REITs與直接不動產市場之間存在共整合關係。此結果表示，長期而言，這兩者可能具有相似之風險分散效益。此外，透過Granger因果關係檢定發現REITs領先於直接不動產，乃因前者市場較具效率。另一方面，台灣之REITs與直接不動產市場之間則不具有共整合以及領先或落後關係，然直接不動產當期價格仍會受到本身與REITs之前期價格影響。 本研究進一步分析台、美兩國實證結果之差異原因如下：資料的樣本期間、REITs市場規模、存在於T-REITs市場之集中性風險以及潛在的代理問題。其中，針對T-REITs潛在代理問題，本研究藉由分析股票與T-REIT報酬率之波動性，發現T-REIT之不動產管理機構若與母集團相關者，則其市場表現較差。因此，我們得出T-REITs市場發展主要是受限於代理問題之結論。本研究成果不僅有助於改善T-REITs市場效率，亦可提供學術與實務之參考。 / The mechanism of Real Estate Investment Trusts in Taiwan (or T-REITs) was launched in 2005, however, T-REITs market did not perform as expected. What caused the limited development of T-REITs market? Current literature on the performance between T-REITs and direct real estate investment is limited. Through the cointegration and Granger causality tests, the purpose of this study is hence to explore the short-term and long-term dynamics between REITs and direct real estate markets in the U.S. and Taiwan, respectively. This study presents evidence of the cointegration relationship between REITs and direct real estate in the U.S. It implies that the diversification properties of these two assets are likely to be similar over the long horizon. According to the Granger causality test, REITs leads direct real estate due to the market information efficiency. These findings are consistent with those of previous studies. On the other hand, we find no cointegration and lead-lag relation between T-REITs and commercial real estate. Moreover, the current commercial transaction price is affected by both its and T-REIT previous price. By comparing the difference between the results of these two countries, there are several possible explanations for the different results between the U.S. and Taiwan, including difference in sample period, market capitalization, concentrated risk, and most importantly, the potential agency problem existing in T-REITs market. Finally, the underperformance of parent-related management T-REIT is verified through the volatilities of stock and T-REIT returns. Therefore, we conclude that the limited development of T-REITs is caused by the agency problem in REITs market. Results of this study may provide T-REITs market for improving its efficiency, as well as for the reference for both academics and real practices.

Bakgrund: Betydelsen av investeringsbedömningen kan inte överbetonas till följd av dess långsiktiga fördelar för företagets giltighet och operativa funktionalitet. Beräkningsmetoder som används för investeringsbedömning bistår med nödvändig kunskap för att underlätta beslutsfattande samt för att skapa sig en tydligare bild över det föreslagna investeringsprojektet. Företag investerar för att upprätthålla sina ekonomiska mål och värderingen av olika investeringsalternativ spelar således en central roll för företagets ekonomiska fortlevnad och utveckling. Kapitalinvesteringar är ofta omfattande och förväntas generera värde på lång sikt, vilket formar företagets ekonomiska fokusområden. Detta belyser viktigheten av en kvalitativ bedömning för olika investeringsalternativ och deras respektive utvecklingsmöjligheter. Syfte: Genom att undersöka användningsområdet för kalkylräntan avser studien att öka kunskapen för sambandet mellan kalkylräntebestämningen och investeringsbedömningen. Detta som ett delsyfte till att undersöka vilka metoder som några svenska industri- och fastighetsföretag använder. Studien avser även vidare att beskriva och analysera företagens investeringskalkylering och kapitalstruktur. Metod: Studien har antagit en kvalitativ forskningsansats med semistrukturerade intervjuer med svenska industri- och fastighetsbolag. Respondenterna valdes ut genom ett målstyrt urval och vidare beskriver metoden hur insamling av det empiriska materialet har gått till. För att besvara studiens problemformulering har det empiriska materialet analyserats med den teoretiska referensramen. Slutsats: Studiens resultat visar tydliga skillnader i relation till den klassiska kapitalteorin och att långsiktiga strategiska investeringar i viss utsträckning tenderar att inkräkta på investeringar som kan generera en högre internränta och således vara mer ekonomiskt lönsam, men som är av mindre strategisk betydelse för bolaget. Detta strider mot teorins förutsättningar om att uppnå en normativt optimal kapitalstruktur. En viktig aspekt av det är att företagen försöker bibehålla en helhetlig bild av investeringarna där förutsättningar för nyutveckling ska uppmärksammas, vilket i regel inte strider mot kapitalteorins antaganden. Men i relation till det kan dock investeringskalkyler endast förse bolag med en begränsa uppfattning av investeringens ekonomiska konsekvenser. / Background: The importance of the investment appraisal cannot be overemphasized as a result of its long-term benefits to the company's validity and operational functionality. Calculation methods used for investment assessment assist with the necessary knowledge to facilitate decision-making, as well as to create a clearer picture of the proposed investment project. Companies invest to maintain their financial goals and the valuation of different investment alternatives thus plays a central role for the company's financial survival and development. Capital investments are often extensive and expected to generate value over the long term, shaping the company's financial focus areas. This highlights the importance of a qualitative assessment for different investment options and their respective development opportunities. Purpose: By examining the area of use for the discount rate, the study intends to increase knowledge of the connection between the discount rate determination and the investment assessment. This as a partial aim to investigate which methods some Swedish industrial and real estate companies use. The study also intends to describe and analyze the companies' investment calculation and capital structure Method: The study has adopted a qualitative research approach with semi-structured interviews with Swedish industrial and property companies. The respondents were selected through a targeted selection and the method further describes the collection of the empirical material. In order to answer the study's problem formulation, the empirical material has been analyzed with the theoretical frame of reference. Conclusion: The results of the study show clear differences in relation to the classic capital theory and that long-term strategic investments to a certain extent tend to encroach on investments that can generate a higher internal rate of return and thus be more financially profitable, but which are of less strategic importance for the company. This goes against the theory's prerequisites for achieving a normatively optimal capital structure. An important aspect of it is that the companies try to maintain a holistic view of the investments where the conditions for new development must be noticed, which as a rule does not contradict the assumptions of the capital theory. However, in relation to that, investment calculations can only provide companies with a limited idea of the financial consequences of the investment.

Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) have played a crucial role in moving socially responsibility considerations up on the private equity industry’s agenda. DFIs add a development impact criterion to traditional financial performance goals in the investment industry and play a catalytic role by mobilizing other investors. The gap in research regarding DFIs implications and significance in the investment community from a SRI perspective is evident. The development impact objective introduced by the DFIs is examined to understand its effects on fund managers’ decision-making and if it exists a trade-off between this objective and financial performance. An understanding of how DFIs control fund managers to act in accordance to their objective as well as how they determine compensation schemes to incentivize them to pursue high return on investments, is discussed in relation to the agency theory. Furthermore, stakeholder/shareholder consideration is examined in relation to the subject. The aim of this study is to examine how the behavior of fund managers is affected by the involvement of a DFI investor and try to add to the understanding of their significance as institutional investors in developing markets. Previous studies have been more focused on determining the financial performance of socially responsible investments by using very similar quantitative data collection methods. This thesis undertakes an in-depth approach with the purpose to understand the fund manager’s drives as well as how a DFI involvement affects the behavior and decision-making process.   This thesis undertook a qualitative research strategy and semi-structured interviews were used as the tool to understand the fund managers’ personals beliefs and perceptions of how the relationship with DFIs affect them. The selection criteria for the fund managers was that they needed to work in a fund in which a DFIs has invested. We also included DFI investors in order to understand their point of view. The interview was recorded, transcribed and later divided into themes in accordance with the thematic approach, following six steps. Our findings show that Development Finance Institutions plays an important role in emerging markets and affect fund manager behavior to a certain extent. They did not perceive a trade-off between financial performance goals and development impact objectives. We conclude that DFIs increase fund manager focus on ESG/SEE elements in the investment process. DFIs requirements and reporting obligations is used as a tool to ensure that the fund manager act in accordance to DFI objective. The fund managers were neither willing to sacrifice commercial return in favor of development impact. Lastly, the interest among the DFIs and commercial investors is fairly similar, hence reducing the conflict of interest between investors.

The inability to effectively hedge against unfavourable exchange rate movements, using the current forward exchange rate as the only guideline, is a key inhibiting factor of international trade. Market participants use the current forward exchange rate quoted in the market to make decisions regarding future exchange rate changes. However, the current forward exchange rate is not solely determined by the interaction of demand and supply, but is also a mechanistic estimation, which is based on the current spot exchange rate and the carry cost of the transaction. Results of various studies, including this study, demonstrated that the current forward exchange rate differs substantially from the realized future spot exchange rate. This phenomenon is known as the exchange rate puzzle. This study contributes to the dynamics of modelling exchange rate theories by developing an exchange rate model that has the ability to explain the realized future spot exchange rate and the exchange rate puzzle. The exchange rate model is based only on current (time t) economic fundamentals and includes an alternative approach of incorporating the impact of the interaction of two international financial markets into the model. This study derived a unique exchange rate model, which proves that the exchange rate puzzle is a pseudo problem. The pseudo problem is based on the generally excepted fallacy that current non–stationary, level time series data cannot be used to model exchange rate theories, because of the incorrect assumption that all the available econometric methods yield statistically insignificant results due to spurious regressions. Empirical evidence conclusively shows that using non–stationary, level time series data of current economic fundamentals can statistically significantly explain the realized future spot exchange rate and, therefore, that the exchange rate puzzle can be solved. This model will give market participants in the foreign exchange market a better indication of expected future exchange rates, which will considerably reduce the dependence on the mechanistically derived forward points. The newly derived exchange rate model will also have an influence on the demand and supply of forward exchange, resulting in forward points that are a more accurate prediction of the realized future exchange rate. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Risk management))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

The inability to effectively hedge against unfavourable exchange rate movements, using the current forward exchange rate as the only guideline, is a key inhibiting factor of international trade. Market participants use the current forward exchange rate quoted in the market to make decisions regarding future exchange rate changes. However, the current forward exchange rate is not solely determined by the interaction of demand and supply, but is also a mechanistic estimation, which is based on the current spot exchange rate and the carry cost of the transaction. Results of various studies, including this study, demonstrated that the current forward exchange rate differs substantially from the realized future spot exchange rate. This phenomenon is known as the exchange rate puzzle. This study contributes to the dynamics of modelling exchange rate theories by developing an exchange rate model that has the ability to explain the realized future spot exchange rate and the exchange rate puzzle. The exchange rate model is based only on current (time t) economic fundamentals and includes an alternative approach of incorporating the impact of the interaction of two international financial markets into the model. This study derived a unique exchange rate model, which proves that the exchange rate puzzle is a pseudo problem. The pseudo problem is based on the generally excepted fallacy that current non–stationary, level time series data cannot be used to model exchange rate theories, because of the incorrect assumption that all the available econometric methods yield statistically insignificant results due to spurious regressions. Empirical evidence conclusively shows that using non–stationary, level time series data of current economic fundamentals can statistically significantly explain the realized future spot exchange rate and, therefore, that the exchange rate puzzle can be solved. This model will give market participants in the foreign exchange market a better indication of expected future exchange rates, which will considerably reduce the dependence on the mechanistically derived forward points. The newly derived exchange rate model will also have an influence on the demand and supply of forward exchange, resulting in forward points that are a more accurate prediction of the realized future exchange rate. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Risk management))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

已實現投資報酬率與無風險利率之差、被稱為超額報酬，而股票的預期報酬率超過無風險利率的部份則為股票風險溢酬，是許多資產評價模型的重要依據，例如資本資產定價模型。有不同的理論架構解釋說明風險溢酬值，例如；股票風險溢酬的迷思、短期損失的憎惡、生還存留因素和回歸與偏離平均值等等。 研究台灣股市的超額報酬與股票風險溢酬，有助投資大眾和企業理性面對股市的預期報酬和風險，對台股才有合理的期望報酬值。分析1967年迄2003年的台灣金融市場，計算過去37年長期的幾何平均年報酬率，以臺灣證券交易所發行量加權股價指數為台股市場報酬率，已實現台股實質年報酬率為6.71%。無風險報酬率使用第一銀行的一年期定期存款利率，實質台幣存款年利率為3.07%，消費者物價指數年增率則為4.80%。以年資料計算的台股實質超額報酬，算術和幾何值分別為12.48%和3.63%(年)，計算月資料算術平均和幾何平均值分別為0.77%和0.25%(月)。過去37年長期的台股超額報酬現象未較歐美市場的情況更加明顯，也比一般市場的預期報酬率低。 因資料取得的限制、台股的理論超額報酬方面，1991年迄2003年的近十三年來，經固定股利成長模式和盈餘成長模式的兩種計算方式，台股的實質超額報酬分別為 0.6%和-4.3%，此時期台股的投資報酬率比起台幣存款並不突出、且是低超額報酬。同期的已實現的實質超額報酬值；算術平均1.69%和幾何平均-3.35%。評估目前台股風險溢酬，將十分接近過去37年長期歷史資料得到的超額報酬數值，算術年均值為12.48%(年)和0.77%(月)，幾何平均分別為3.63%(年)和0.25%(月)，低風險溢酬是當前台灣股票市場的一般現象。 / The difference between the observed historical investment return and the risk-free interest rate is the excess return. The equity risk premium, ERP is the expected rate of return on the aggregate stock market in excess of the rate of risk-free security. ERP is one of important factor of many asset-pricing models, including Capital Asset Pricing Model, CAPM. There were many theories and factors to explain the equity risk premium; equity premium puzzle, myopic loss aversion, survivorship bias, mean reversion & aversion and etc. Studying the value of Taiwan equity excess return and risk premium is fundamental for investors and institutions evaluating the expected market investment return and risk. Analyzing the data from year 1967 to 2003 for thirty-seven years long holding period, Taiwan Stock Exchange Capitalization Weighted Stock Index as Taiwan stock market return, the realized real return was 6.71%. One-year bank time deposit rate as NT dollars risk-free asset rate and real interest rate was 3.07% and consumer price index, CPI annual growth rate was 4.80%. The historical real yearly excess return was 12.45% for arithmetic mean and 3.63% geometric mean; the historical real monthly excess return was 0.77% for arithmetic mean and 0.25% geometric mean. Taiwan realized equity excess returns were not higher than the returns in the developed countries and were also lower than the market's expectation. Due to the limits of available data, the theoretical equity excess returns that were calculated on two theoretical models; Constant Growth Dividend Discount Model (dividend yield model) and earnings yield model were 0.6% and -4.3% from year 1991 to year 2003. Comparing the same period of historical realized excess returns of 1.69% for arithmetic mean and -3.35% geometric mean, Taiwan stock market returns were not spectacular. The current equity risk premium of Taiwan stock market is low and should be near the level of the long historical realized equity excess return.