The q-factor Model and the Redundancy of the Value Factor: An Application to Hedge Funds

Abstract

We test the new Fama and French five-factor model on a sample of hedge fund strategies. This model embeds the q-factor asset pricing model which lies on the CMA and RMW factors. We find that the HML factor is not redundant for many strategies, as conjectured by Fama and French (2015) in their setting. HML seems to embed risk dimensions which are not included in the Fama and French new factors. In contrast to Fama and French (2015), the alpha puzzle is robust to the addition of CMA and RMW. Furthermore, hedge funds seem to prefer, on the one hand, firms which invest a lot to firms which invest less, and, on the other hand, weak firms over robust ones. Finally, our results are not sensitive to the addition of the Fung and Hsieh (1997, 2001, 2004) seven-factor model. However, the explanatory power of the eleven-factor model is much higher for some hedge fund strategies involved in arbitrage.