Home / Financial Tools / CAPM

Corporate Finance · Cost of Capital

CAPM Cost of Equity Calculator

The Capital Asset Pricing Model in its simplest, most usable form, plot your asset's systematic risk against the Security Market Line and read off its implied cost of equity.

Reading This Tool

How To Use This Calculator

Enter the current risk-free rate (a government bond yield is the usual proxy), the asset's beta, and your expected return on the overall market.

The dot on the chart shows exactly where your asset sits on the Security Market Line, further right means more market risk, and a higher return required to justify holding it. The Cost of Equity figure is what should feed directly into a WACC calculation next.

Your Inputs

Beta measures an asset's volatility relative to the overall market. A beta of 1.0 moves with the market; above 1.0 amplifies market moves; below 1.0 dampens them.

CAPM Result

-

Cost of Equity (Ke)

0.00%

Equity Risk Premium

0%

Beta-Adjusted Premium

0%

Security Market Line

Security Market Line Your Asset

How A CFO Actually Uses This

Cost of equity feeds directly into WACC, which becomes the hurdle rate for evaluating new investments. A project has to clear this rate to be worth doing on a risk-adjusted basis, not just be "profitable" in isolation.

CAPM is a simplified model of risk and return with well-known limitations (it assumes a single risk factor, market efficiency, and a stable beta). It's a standard starting point in corporate finance, not a guaranteed predictor of actual returns.

Need this rolled into a full WACC and valuation build?