THE EFFECT OF CAPM ON THE STOCK RETURNS OF UNITED STATES TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES: A PRE- AND POST-COVID-19 ANALYSIS
Keywords:
risk, return, beta, NASDAQ, NYSEAbstract
Abstract: This study analyzes the effect of the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) on the stock returns of 15 major technology companies listed on U.S. stock exchanges, comparing their performance during the pre-pandemic (2015–2019) and post-pandemic (2020–2025) periods of COVID-19. The theoretical framework is based on Markowitz’s portfolio theory, the fundamentals of asset pricing, and the Efficient Market Hypothesis. The research adopts a quantitative, descriptive, and explanatory approach, using data obtained from the Economática database and processed in Python. The CAPM was estimated through regressions using daily stock returns, analyzing alpha, beta, and R². During the pre-pandemic period, no alpha was statistically significant, whereas in the full sample period, AAPL, MSFT, GOOGL, GOOG, and AMZN exhibited positive and statistically significant Alphas. In the post-pandemic period, only NVDA and ADBE maintained statistically significant Alphas. Betas increased after 2020 for most assets, while higher R² values indicated greater explanatory power of the model in the more recent period. The Chow test confirmed the presence of a structural break in 40% of the sample. The findings suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic increased systematic risk and enhanced the predictive ability of the CAPM in the U.S. technology sector.
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