Metrics
Beta
Measure of how sensitive a stock or portfolio is to the overall market.
Beta measures how strongly a stock or portfolio moves relative to the broad market. A beta of 1.0 means the asset moves exactly in line with the market; 1.5 means 50% bigger swings, 0.5 only half the magnitude.
Highly cyclical stocks (e.g. semiconductors, banks) typically carry high betas, defensive names (e.g. utilities, consumer staples) low ones. At portfolio level beta can be approximated from the constituent positions of a 13F and gives a good sense of a manager's market exposure.