Paper Title
Factors Affecting Stocks’ Rates Of Return – The Case Of The Palestine Exchange

Abstract
This study aims to determine factors affecting the market rates of returns for companies listed on the Palestine Exchange during the years 2012-2016, the study uses annual market returns and other information extracted from companies’ financial statements as well as a set of statistical (correlation, regression) and investment portfolio techniques to test four main hypotheses, The statistical analysis and investment portfolio techniques indicates there is a significant positive relationship between the rate of success and the stocks rates of returns, there is a significant positive relationship between the stocks dividend yields and the stocks rates of returns, and there is a significant positive relationship between the quality of earnings and the stocks rates of returns. The results of the analyses of investment portfolios that were constructed based on the study's variables are consistent with the above stated results, and contrary to CAPM specification, the results of this study indicate that there are several factors affecting the stocks rates of returns, which is more consistent with the Arbitrage Pricing Theory (APT). The main recommendations of this study are that, there is a need for companies to adopt a generous dividend policy, and that investors in The Palestine Securities Exchange to build their portfolios according to the study's variables (SU, D/P, EQ). Keywords - Rates Of Return, Book value, quality of earnings, investment portfolios, Capital Assests pricing Model (CAPM)