Considering 30-days investment horizon, Merck & Inc. is expected to generate 0.8 times more return on investment than Microsoft. However, Merck & Inc. is 1.26 times less risky than Microsoft. It trades about -0.13 of its potential returns per unit of risk. Microsoft Corporation is currently generating about -0.44 per unit of risk. If you would invest 3,846 in Merck & Inc. on April 26, 2012 and sell it today you would lose (91.00) from holding Merck & Inc. or give up 2.37% of portfolio value over 30 days.
Diversification
Significant diversification
Overlapping area represents amount of risk that can be diversified away by holding Merck & Co. Inc. and Microsoft Corp. in the same portfolio (assuming nothing else is changed)