Yahoo Finance Does Market Volatility Impact U.S. Physical Therapy, Inc.'s (NYSE:USPH) Share Price?
If you're interested in U.S. Physical Therapy, Inc. (NYSE:USPH), 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. 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. Beta is a widely used metric to measure a stock's exposure to market risk (volatility). Before we go on, it's worth noting that Warren Buffett pointed out in his 2014 letter to shareholders that 'volatility is far from synonymous with risk.' Having said that, beta can still be rather useful. The first thing to understand about beta is that the beta of the overall market is 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.
See our latest analysis for U.S. Physical Therapy
What we can learn from USPH's beta value
Given that it has a beta of 1.12, we can surmise that the U.S. Physical Therapy share price has been fairly sensitive to market volatility (over the last 5 years). If the past is any guide, we would expect that U.S. Physical Therapy shares will rise quicker than the markets in times of optimism, but fall faster in times of pessimism. Many would argue that beta is useful in position sizing, but fundamental metrics such as revenue and earnings are more important overall. You can see U.S. Physical Therapy's revenue and earnings in the image below.
Could USPH's size cause it to be more volatile?
U.S. Physical Therapy is a small cap stock with a market capitalisation of US$1.6b. Most companies this size are actively traded. It has a relatively high beta, which is not unusual among small-cap stocks. Because it takes less capital to move the share price of a smaller company, actively traded small-cap stocks often have a higher beta that a similar large-cap stock.
What this means for you:
Beta only tells us that the U.S. Physical Therapy 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. In order to fully understand whether USPH is a good investment for you, we also need to consider important company-specific fundamentals such as U.S. Physical Therapy’s financial health and performance track record. I highly recommend you dive deeper by considering the following:
Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for USPH’s future growth? Take a look at our free research report of analyst consensus for USPH’s outlook.
Past Track Record: Has USPH 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 USPH's historicals for more clarity.
Other Interesting Stocks: It's worth checking to see how USPH measures up against other companies on valuation. You could start with this free list of prospective options.
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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.
