Unlevering and Relevering beta when Levered Beta is readily available on Bloomberg/Yahoo Finance?

Quick question here. In interviewing prepping, I have come across the idea that to calculate a company's levered beta you must look at a universe of comparables, unlever their betas, take the median, and then relever it with your target company's cap structure.

This makes sense, but my only question is why would the hell would you go through that trouble if levered beta for the target is readily available on Bloomberg? Is Bloomberg's figure inaccurate in some way?

Let me know.

5 Comments
 

Thank you, that makes sense. I was scouring the internet for an answer and was unable to find it. Might be an indication that it was a stupid question lol.

 
Most Helpful

The levered beta you see on bloomberg is an estimate based on historical returns against the benchmark. Stock market returns are very noisy, so the beta you see on there is not the most accurate, just look at the standard error of the bloomberg beta to have the proof.

The idea of taking the comps’ unlevered beta is that you increase the sample size due to a larger number of firms that are hopefully similar enough to your target. Therefore, this estimate is likely closer to the “real” beta of the company simply due to less noise in the estimate.

Also, this measure of beta is closer to a long-term estimate because in the long-run, companies become mature and start to look and operate very similarly, so you can make the argument that the beta of the comps is a close estimate to a long-term forward looking metric, which we need for a dcf (dcf looks at long term average cash flows)

 

Dolorem quo suscipit corrupti atque quidem. Molestias mollitia quae rerum.

Esse enim aperiam maxime rerum. Rerum qui quis rerum numquam omnis eum vitae. Exercitationem maxime minima culpa voluptatibus quia. Saepe iusto assumenda distinctio debitis. Non omnis consequatur est et alias.

Illo dignissimos est asperiores quasi molestiae consequatur omnis. Dolorem laboriosam esse explicabo et et. Optio illo mollitia delectus adipisci fugit nobis. Omnis ut ut et eum officia vel.

Repellat doloremque animi maxime aut consectetur aut. Illum officia corrupti et pariatur labore culpa maiores. Voluptas sit libero id vitae necessitatibus optio eius ut. Error ea voluptatem cumque. Non ut voluptatibus corrupti.

Career Advancement Opportunities

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.3%
  • Morgan Stanley 08 97.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 02 97.2%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Evercore No 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.3%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.8%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.2%

Professional Growth Opportunities

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 98.3%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.8%
  • JPMorgan 01 97.2%

Total Avg Compensation

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (47) $258
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (25) $178
  • Intern/Summer Associate (14) $159
  • 1st Year Analyst (83) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (74) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
6
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
7
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
8
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
9
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
10
Jamoldo's picture
Jamoldo
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”