Ken Willis is the portfolio manager of an aggressive growth fund. Ken is concerned about the future performance of his high-beta portfolio in light of his belief that the stock market is currently overvalued. Willis' firm requires that he maintain at least 80% of the portfolio's value in equities at all times. Willis decided his best course of action is to buy put options to protect the portfolio from the potential loss resulting from a market decline. The profits and losses from an equity portfolio combined with long puts would have risk characteristics similar to a:
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A. B. C.A
In this scenario, Ken Willis, the portfolio manager of an aggressive growth fund, is concerned about the future performance of his high-beta portfolio due to his belief that the stock market is currently overvalued. To protect the portfolio from potential losses resulting from a market decline, Willis decides to buy put options.
Put options provide the holder with the right, but not the obligation, to sell an underlying asset (in this case, equities) at a specified price (the strike price) within a specified period (until the expiration date). By purchasing put options, Willis can potentially benefit from a decrease in the value of the equities held in the portfolio, as the put options would gain value.
The key aspect to note is that Willis's firm requires him to maintain at least 80% of the portfolio's value in equities at all times. This means that even though Willis buys put options to protect against potential losses, he must still maintain a significant portion of the portfolio in equities.
Given this context, let's analyze the risk characteristics of combining an equity portfolio with long put options.
A long call option (answer choice A) does not align with Willis's strategy. A long call option provides the holder with the right, but not the obligation, to buy an underlying asset at a specified price within a specified period. This option position would not provide the desired protection against potential losses resulting from a market decline.
A short put and long call position (answer choice B) involves selling a put option and buying a call option. This strategy is not relevant to Willis's approach of buying put options to protect against potential losses in his portfolio.
Therefore, the correct answer is C. None. The combination of an equity portfolio with long put options does not have risk characteristics similar to a long call option or a short put and long call position. Instead, it represents a strategy to protect against potential losses in a high-beta portfolio, given Willis's concerns about the overvaluation of the stock market.