Sharath Sury Explains The Alpha to Eager Finance Enthusiasts and Focused Students Online

 SANTA CLARA, Calif. March 6/Everything-Finance.net/ -- With many finance students and enthusiasts eager to solidify the concepts of Alpha and Beta within the context of the recent Alternative Investment Summit chaired by Mr. Sharath Sury, many followers have shown continued interest online, posting comments on various blogs that reveal an eagerly awaiting clarification of this elusive Alpha by an experienced, esteemed professional like Sharath Sury - an internationally recognized expert in Risk Management and Asset Allocation. As a former VP at Goldman Sachs, and CEO Emeritus of S4 Capital, Sharath Sury handled very complex investment portfolios of some of the nation's most wealthy families and individuals.  Mr. Sury is has been recognized by numerous notable magazines as one of the top professionals in his field.  Also a revered university instructor, Professor Sury has established a forum for the research and discussion of new developments in economics and finance, with an emphasis on risk management and innovation.  Who better to answer our audience's questions than Mr. Sury, himself?  Everything-Finance.net now has the exclusive, wealth manager's definition of Alpha by Professor Sharath Sury, in his own words:

"In any investment strategy, there are essentially three components to the ex-post return: market related exposure (beta), manager skill or 'risk adjusted excess return' (alpha), and randomness. The goal of any active investment manager is to maximize alpha to the extent possible as this is the portion of the return that is attributable to the manager's skill or strategy. In most cases, it is extremely difficult to know what alpha a manager will produce 'before the fact (ex ante)', however, there are certain clues that can help provide guidance on whether a manager is capable of delivering alpha. Among these maybe: superior execution, highly developed capital market analytic skills, superior processing of public information, ability to exploit systematic mispricings, etc. These and other such sources of alpha are colloquially referred to as 'edge'. Every successful investment manager always strives to maximize their edge, and thus their alpha."

Professor Sharath Sury has also generously extended his hand to Everything-Finance.net, offering his expertise again soon!  In the near future Sharath Sury will answer, conceptually clarify, and define additional special investment terms that have significant importance in current and future economic climates.  Special thanks to Professor Sury for taking the time to briefly analyze and precisely define these terms in efforts to help students (and enthusiasts, alike) avoid further confusion on what can already be very complicated subject material.  This is especially true -- as we've found with the Alpha -- if you're not careful about where, and in what context, you find a certain definition. 

About Sharath Sury - Founder and Executive Director of the SCU/Sury Initiative for Financial Innovation & Risk Management (SIFIRM) at Santa Clara University in California’s Silicon Valley, Sharath Sury devotes his time and energy to bringing together thought leaders who can address the development of real-world solutions to the current economic climate. Sharath Sury has worked with some of the brightest and most experienced experts in finance and risk management and aims to bring a greater sense of ethics and responsibility to his profession. Through his efforts, Professor Sury has established this invaluable forum for the research and discussion of new developments in the world of economics and finance and has attracted a renewed spirit of innovation to the industry. Sharath Sury also serves as an Adjunct Professor of Economics at the University of California and Adjunct Professor of Finance at DePaul University in Chicago. Sharath Sury's interest and experience in wealth management began as an Associate and later Vice President at Goldman, Sachs & Co. He later founded and worked at S4 Capital, where he earned numerous accolades for his work.

SOURCE: Everything-Finance.net

http://blog.everything-finance.net/2010/03/06/exclusive-sharath-sury-explains-the-alpha-to-finance-enthusiasts-worldwide-on-everythingfinancenet.aspx  

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 Analytic Due Diligence Using an Alpha Cost Index

Sharath M. Sury
Santa Clara University; University of California

Manda B Sury
DePaul University - Department of Finance

April 16, 2006

Abstract:
Effective portfolio managers recognize that not all returns are created equally. Investment strategies can deliver returns that are the result of systematic (market or beta) exposures, nonsystematic (skill or alpha) exposures, and random variation. The relative proportions of alpha, beta, and randomness vary across strategies and even within strategies as they evolve over time. Historically, most investment products have bundled alpha and beta. However, as low-cost, investable proxies for beta grow more pervasive, it is increasingly important for portfolio managers to consider only those actively managed products that are truly delivering incremental alpha. In this article, we introduce a new measure that adjusts product fees to account for the level of alpha delivered—the Alpha Cost Index (ACI). The ACI levels the playing field by penalizing products that charge active management fees but deliver the preponderance of their returns from beta exposures; thus serving as a useful ranking tool for due diligence.

Keywords: hedge funds, alpha, beta, fees, due diligence

JEL Classifications: G10, G19

Working Paper Series

Date posted: October 06, 2009 ; Last revised: November 04, 2009

Suggested Citation
Sury, Sharath M. and Sury, Manda B, Analytic Due Diligence Using an Alpha Cost Index (April 16, 2006). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1482904

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Contact Information
Sharath M. Sury (Contact Author)

Santa Clara University ( email )
500 El Camino Real
Santa Clara, CA 95053
United States
HOME PAGE: http://phonebook.scu.edu/index.cfm?v=pid&i=1894
University of California ( email )
Santa Cruz, CA 95064
United States

Manda B Sury
DePaul University - Department of Finance ( email )
1 East Jackson Blvd.
Chicago, IL 60604-2287
United States

 If you have an interest in *anything* related to finance, then It would be worth your time to check out the blog:

 http://blog.suryonline.net !

It contains some very interesting Finance articles and Videos, including Implementing Alternative Investments.