Does Sprott Resource Holdings Inc. (TSE:SRHI) Have A Particularly Volatile Share Price?

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If you own shares in Sprott Resource Holdings Inc. (TSE:SRHI) then it's worth thinking about how it contributes to the volatility of your portfolio, overall. In finance, Beta is a measure of volatility. Modern finance theory considers volatility to be a measure of risk, and there are two main types of price volatility. The first type is company specific volatility. Investors use diversification across uncorrelated stocks to reduce this kind of price volatility across the portfolio. 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. A stock with a beta greater than one is more sensitive to broader market movements than a stock with a beta of less than one.

See our latest analysis for Sprott Resource Holdings

What does SRHI's beta value mean to investors?

Zooming in on Sprott Resource Holdings, we see it has a five year beta of 1.28. This is above 1, so historically its share price has been influenced by the broader volatility of the stock market. If this beta value holds true in the future, Sprott Resource Holdings 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 Sprott Resource Holdings is growing earnings and revenue. You can take a look for yourself, below.

TSX:SRHI Income Statement, June 19th 2019
TSX:SRHI Income Statement, June 19th 2019

How does SRHI's size impact its beta?

Sprott Resource Holdings is a noticeably small company, with a market capitalisation of CA$44m. Most companies this size are not always actively traded. 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 Sprott Resource Holdings has a reasonably high beta, it's worth considering why it is so heavily influenced by broader market sentiment. For example, it might be a high growth stock or have a lot of operating leverage in its business model. In order to fully understand whether SRHI is a good investment for you, we also need to consider important company-specific fundamentals such as Sprott Resource Holdings’s financial health and performance track record. I urge you to continue your research by taking a look at the following:

  1. Financial Health: Are SRHI’s operations financially sustainable? Balance sheets can be hard to analyze, which is why we’ve done it for you. Check out our financial health checks here.

  2. Past Track Record: Has SRHI 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 SRHI's historicals for more clarity.

  3. Other High-Performing Stocks: Are there other stocks that provide better prospects with proven track records? Explore our free list of these great stocks here.

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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