If you are looking to invest in Cenveo Inc’s (NASDAQ:CVO), or currently own the stock, then you need to understand its beta in order to understand how it can affect the risk of your portfolio. CVO is exposed to market-wide risk, which arises from investing in the stock market. This risk reflects changes in economic and political factors that affects all stocks, and is measured by its beta. Different characteristics of a stock expose it to various levels of market risk, and the broad market index represents a beta value of one. Any stock with a beta of greater than one is considered more volatile than the market, and those with a beta less than one is generally less volatile.

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What does CVO's beta value mean?

Cenveo has a beta of 1.73, which means that the percentage change in its stock value will be higher than the entire market in times of booms and busts. A high level of beta means investors face higher risk associated with potential gains and losses driven by market movements. Based on this beta value, CVO can help magnify your portfolio return, especially if it is predominantly made up of low-beta stocks. If the market is going up, a higher exposure to the upside from a high-beta stock can push up your portfolio return.

Does CVO's size and industry impact the expected beta?

A market capitalisation of USD $26.26M puts CVO in the category of small-cap stocks, which tends to possess higher beta than larger companies. Moreover, CVO’s industry, commercial services and supplies, is considered to be cyclical, which means it is more volatile than the market over the economic cycle. As a result, we should expect higher beta for small-cap stocks in a cyclical industry compared to larger stocks in a defensive industry. This is consistent with CVO’s individual beta value we discussed above. Next, we will examine the fundamental factors which can cause cyclicality in the stock.

Is CVO's cost structure indicative of a high beta?

During times of economic downturn, low demand may cause companies to readjust production of their goods and services. It is more difficult for companies to lower their cost, if the majority of these costs are generated by fixed assets. Therefore, this is a type of risk which is associated with higher beta. I test CVO’s ratio of fixed assets to total assets in order to determine how high the risk is associated with this type of constraint. With a fixed-assets-to-total-assets ratio of greater than 30%, CVO appears to be a company that invests a large amount of capital in assets that are hard to scale down on short-notice. Thus, we can expect CVO to be more volatile in the face of market movements, relative to its peers of similar size but with a lower proportion of fixed assets on their books. Similarly, CVO’s beta value conveys the same message.

What this means for you:

Are you a shareholder? You may reap the gains of CVO's returns in times of an economic boom. Though the business does have higher fixed cost than what is considered safe, during times of growth, consumer demand may be high enough to not warrant immediate concerns. However, during a downturn, a more defensive stock can cushion the impact of this risk.

Are you a potential investor? Before you buy CVO, you should factor how your portfolio currently moves with the wider market, and where we are in the economic cycle. This stock could be an outperformer during times of growth, and it may be worth taking a deeper dive into the fundamentals to crystalize your thoughts on CVO.

Beta is one aspect of your portfolio construction to consider when holding or entering into a stock. But it is certainly not the only factor. Take a look at our most recent infographic report on Cenveo for a more in-depth analysis of the stock to help you make a well-informed investment decision. But if you are not interested in Cenveo anymore, you can use our free platform to see my list of over 50 other stocks with a high growth potential.

To help readers see pass the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price sensitive company announcements.

The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned.