Institutional investors today increasingly look for sources of consistent alpha in the quest for higher risk-adjusted returns. In the case of equity investment, this means two things: 1) Find more alpha where possible; and 2) undo the traditional coupling of alpha (pure skill) with beta (pure risk premium). The well-accepted equity market-neutral strategy (a pure long-short portfolio) is a clear beneficiary. This strategy delivers more risk-adjusted return, all things equal, but it lacks the naturally positive long-term equity risk premium accorded to a positive beta.
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