Linking Financial Information to Systematic Risk: The Chinese Internet Industry Outlook

Extant literature delved deeply into the influence of financial variables on firm systematic risk across industries. China’s internet industry is pivotal in attracting huge investment inflow which is essential and enhancer for the country’s economic growth. The internet industry received several attention in research but the stock price variability of these firms, vis-à-vis the overall exchange, has not received the needed attention in previous studies. It is therefore timely to learn the applicability of the empirical financial variables to assessing the systematic risk of the internet industry to aid investment decisions. This study aims to ascertain the link between financial metrics and systematic risk of listed internet companies on China’s Shanghai stock market. The current study drew data on 185 Chinese listed internet companies on the Chinese A-share market from the Bloomberg database. The results, based on Pearson correlation analysis and stepwise multiple linear regression, growth rate, market value of equity, and return-on-assets, show a significant correlation with beta. The three variables collectively predicted 17.3% volatility in beta. This study adds on to previous studies on the relationship between financial information and systematic risk of various industries in the global investment environment. Also, the result provides constructive insight to prospective Chinese investors in the internet industry with fast growth in revenue, large firm size, and a high return-on-assets; and with the propensity of larger unpredictability on realized yield.