Does Phio Pharmaceuticals Corp. (NASDAQ:PHIO) Have A Particularly Volatile Share Price?

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If you're interested in Phio Pharmaceuticals Corp. (NASDAQ:PHIO), then you might want to consider its beta (a measure of share price volatility) in order to understand how the stock could impact your portfolio. Modern finance theory considers volatility to be a measure of risk, and there are two main types of price volatility. The first category is company specific volatility. This can be dealt with by limiting your exposure to any particular stock. The second sort is caused by the natural volatility of markets, overall. For example, certain macroeconomic events will impact (virtually) all stocks on the market.

Some stocks mimic the volatility of the market quite closely, while others demonstrate muted, exagerrated or uncorrelated price movements. Beta can be a useful tool to understand how much a stock is influenced by market risk (volatility). However, Warren Buffett said 'volatility is far from synonymous with risk' in his 2014 letter to investors. So, while useful, beta is not the only metric to consider. To use beta as an investor, you must first understand that the overall market has a beta of one. Any stock with a beta of greater than one is considered more volatile than the market, while those with a beta below one are either less volatile or poorly correlated with the market.

Check out our latest analysis for Phio Pharmaceuticals

What does PHIO's beta value mean to investors?

Looking at the last five years, Phio Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 1.61. The fact that this is well above 1 indicates that its share price movements have shown sensitivity to overall market volatility. If this beta value holds true in the future, Phio Pharmaceuticals shares are likely to rise more than the market when the market is going up, but fall faster when the market is going down. Beta is worth considering, but it's also important to consider whether Phio Pharmaceuticals is growing earnings and revenue. You can take a look for yourself, below.

NasdaqCM:PHIO Income Statement, November 12th 2019
NasdaqCM:PHIO Income Statement, November 12th 2019

Does PHIO's size influence the expected beta?

With a market capitalisation of US$7.4m, Phio Pharmaceuticals is a very small company by global standards. It is quite likely to be unknown to most investors. It takes less money to influence the share price of a very small company. This may explain the excess volatility implied by this beta value.

What this means for you:

Since Phio Pharmaceuticals tends to moves up when the market is going up, and down when it's going down, potential investors may wish to reflect on the overall market, when considering the stock. In order to fully understand whether PHIO is a good investment for you, we also need to consider important company-specific fundamentals such as Phio Pharmaceuticals’s financial health and performance track record. I highly recommend you dive deeper by considering the following:

  1. Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for PHIO’s future growth? Take a look at our free research report of analyst consensus for PHIO’s outlook.

  2. Past Track Record: Has PHIO been consistently performing well irrespective of the ups and downs in the market? Go into more detail in the past performance analysis and take a look at the free visual representations of PHIO's historicals for more clarity.

  3. Other Interesting Stocks: It's worth checking to see how PHIO measures up against other companies on valuation. You could start with this free list of prospective options.

We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.

If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.

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