Do Arbitrage Pricing Models Explain the Predictability of Stock Returns?

Abstract:     
This article studies predictability in U.S. stock returns for multiple investment horizons. We measure to what extent predictability is driven by premiums for economy-wide risk factors, comparing two standard methods for factor selection. We study single-beta models and multiple-beta models. We show how to estimate the fraction of the predictability in returns captured by the model, simultaneously with the other parameters. Our analysis indicates that the models capture a large fraction of the predictability for all of the investment horizons. The performances of the principal components and the prespecified-factor approaches are broadly similar.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 80

JEL Classification: G13

Accepted Paper Series