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Does The AECOM (NYSE:ACM) Share Price Tend To Follow The Market?

Anyone researching AECOM (NYSE:ACM) might want to consider the historical volatility of the share price. Volatility is considered to be a measure of risk in modern finance theory. Investors may think of volatility as falling into two main categories. 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 are more sensitive to general market forces than others. Some investors use beta as a measure of how much a certain stock is impacted by market risk (volatility). While we should keep in mind that Warren Buffett has cautioned that 'Volatility is far from synonymous with risk', beta is still a useful factor to consider. To make good use of it you must first know that the beta of the overall market is 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 AECOM

What we can learn from ACM's beta value

Zooming in on AECOM, we see it has a five year beta of 1.54. This is above 1, so historically its share price has been influenced by the broader volatility of the stock market. Based on this history, investors should be aware that AECOM are likely to rise strongly in times of greed, but sell off in times of fear. Share price volatility is well worth considering, but most long term investors consider the history of revenue and earnings growth to be more important. Take a look at how AECOM fares in that regard, below.

NYSE:ACM Income Statement, March 22nd 2020
NYSE:ACM Income Statement, March 22nd 2020

How does ACM's size impact its beta?

AECOM is a reasonably big company, with a market capitalisation of US$4.1b. Most companies this size are actively traded with decent volumes of shares changing hands each day. It takes deep pocketed investors to influence the share price of a large company, so it's a little unusual to see companies this size with high beta values. It may be that that this company is more heavily impacted by broader economic factors than most.

What this means for you:

Beta only tells us that the AECOM share price is sensitive to broader market movements. This could indicate that it is a high growth company, or is heavily influenced by sentiment because it is speculative. Alternatively, it could have operating leverage in its business model. Ultimately, beta is an interesting metric, but there's plenty more to learn. This article aims to educate investors about beta values, but it's well worth looking at important company-specific fundamentals such as AECOM’s financial health and performance track record. I highly recommend you dive deeper by considering the following:

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

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

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

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.

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. Thank you for reading.