ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors dive into portfolio sorts, one of the most widely used statistical methodologies in empirical asset pricing. The key application of portfolio sorts is to examine whether one or more variables can predict future excess returns. In general, the idea is to sort individual stocks into portfolios, where the stocks within each portfolio are similar with respect to a sorting variable, such as firm size. However, the long-short portfolio yields a statistically significant negative CAPM-adjusted alpha, although, controlling for the effect of beta, the average excess stock returns should be zero according to the CAPM. The results thus provide no evidence in support of the CAPM. The authors show how functional programming can be leveraged to form an arbitrary number of portfolios using any sorting variable and how to evaluate the performance of the resulting portfolios.
