# Stock Returns: How Much Should You Actually Expect?
Ever wondered what return you should demand from a stock to make it worth the risk? That's where cost of equity comes in—basically the minimum profit rate that justifies buying a company's shares.
There are two main ways to calculate it:
**CAPM (Capital Asset Pricing Model)** - The popular kid:
- Risk-Free Rate + Beta × (Market Return - Risk-Free Rate)
- Example: 2% + 1.5 × (8% - 2%) = 11%
- Translation: If a stock is 1.5x more volatile than the market, you'd want 11% returns to compensate for that extra risk
**DDM (Dividend Discount Model
Ever wondered what return you should demand from a stock to make it worth the risk? That's where cost of equity comes in—basically the minimum profit rate that justifies buying a company's shares.
There are two main ways to calculate it:
**CAPM (Capital Asset Pricing Model)** - The popular kid:
- Risk-Free Rate + Beta × (Market Return - Risk-Free Rate)
- Example: 2% + 1.5 × (8% - 2%) = 11%
- Translation: If a stock is 1.5x more volatile than the market, you'd want 11% returns to compensate for that extra risk
**DDM (Dividend Discount Model

