The Usefulness of Variables (Dimension) Reduction Methods in Stock Returns of the Companies Listed on Tehran Stock Exchange

The Purpose of this research is investigating the usefulness of variables (dimension) reduction methods (selection and extraction) in stock returns of the companies listed on Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE). In this regard, through reviewing literature, 52 predictive features (variables) were specified as the initial features based on the popularity in the literature and the availability of the necessary data. By using variables selection (relief) and variables extraction (factor analysis) methods, optimal variables (factors) are selected or extracted from initial variables. Subsequently, the stock returns of 101 firms listed on TSE from 2004 to 2013 were predicted utilizing decision tree and linear regression. The experimental results confirmed the usefulness of variables (dimension) reduction methods in stock return prediction and better performance of relief (relative to factor analysis). Furthermore, the results indicated that decision tree outperforms the linear regression.