Alpha Investing

"Alpha represents how much an investment’s actual return exceeded its expected return, based on its risk level. Alpha is used to evaluate whether an investment outperformed a certain benchmark.

[...] Alpha is a measure used in investing to determine whether an asset (such as a stock or mutual fund) outperformed a comparable benchmark, based on its level of risk. This is referred to as “excess return.”

Alpha can be used to evaluate a fund manager’s performance or ability to outperform a market index [...]. Understanding the alpha can also help [...] decide whether the return you hope to earn will be high enough to outweigh any potential investment fees, such as the expense ratio. [...] the goal of alpha investing is to beat the market by investing in high-performing assets".

Source: https://fortune.com/recommends/investing/alpha-vs-beta-in-investing/