Home Videos Aswath Damodaran – Session 5: Risk & Return Models & The Marginal Investor

Aswath Damodaran – Session 5: Risk & Return Models & The Marginal Investor

Advertisement Disclosure: When you purchase through our sponsored links, we may earn a commission from our partners. By using this website you agree to our T&Cs.


In this session, we address the question of what risks get rewarded and which ones do not, by looking diversifiable versus non-diversifiable risk. The best way to understand diversifiable and non-diversifiable risk is to take a company and consider all of the risks that it is exposed to and then categorize these risks into whether they are likely to affect just the company, the company and a few competitors, the entire sector or the overall market. The marginal investor, if diversified, cares and prices in only the last type of risk. In the last part of the class, we introduced the notion of a risk free investment and how to measure the risk free rate.

Slides: http://www.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/po…

Post class test: http://www.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/pd…

Post class test solution: http://www.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/pd…

Risk & Return Models

Risk & Return Models & The Marginal Investor

Our Editorial Standards

At ValueWalk, we’re committed to providing accurate, research-backed information. Our editors go above and beyond to ensure our content is trustworthy and transparent.

Investing

Which Stocks Should You Buy, and Sell, in 2026?

Dave Kovaleski5 months

Also, the 3 sectors that Wall Street analysts are most bullish about. The usual suspects dominated in 2025 as both the Communication Services and Information Technology sectors helped boost the...