Return Based Style Analysis of Equity Market Neutral Hedge Funds

We are investigating Sharpe, (1992), return based style analysis of equity market neutral hedge funds. The style weights of taking a short position in different assets can be positive or negative. A market neutral strategy combines both long and short positions. The net exposure is equal to zero. The purpose of using such strategy is to eliminate the market risk. The hedge fund manager is trying to increase the positive return by opening a long position in a bull market and short positions in a bear market. The purpose is to hedge and decrease market volatility. The hedge fund manager is checking the correlation structure of different segment or industries and accordingly aligns his/her investment strategy to buy or sell the different shares according to the sector, industry and market capitalization. It aims to provide a stable and consistent return profile that has no correlation to either equity or bond market movements, and to produce a consistent return. The fund manager has equally the same long and short positions, so the net exposure is zero. The sample is provided from Data Feeder dataset. It is very comprehensive and includes equity market neutral hedge funds for the period 1998 to 2003. The database includes defunct funds and funds that ceased to operate and, therefore, is free from survivorship bias