Investments Assignment- Equity Analysis Project
This project involves the analysis and recommendation of one stock that has been assigned to you.
Your company to analyze will be distributed to you via Canvas message or in class.
Note the Company name, Ticker, S&P Sector, and S&P Industry
VIDEO: Equity Project Goals and Overview
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7qQ9vFXl9ytRERlTUtaQU1CczQ/edit?usp=sharing
Your final report should be greater than 1000 words, but this would indicate a relatively minimal effort. More comprehensive projects go much further than that. Supporting charts or graphics - if included - are not part of the minimum and are highly recommended.
You will find that if you do all that's outlined below, this minimum won't be an issue. Extra credit is available for exceptional work. Great length does not necessarily equal "exceptional." However, barely meeting or exceeding the minimum is usually just "satisfactory" work.
Your submission via Canvas:
• Submit two documents via the Canvas link:
o MS-Word document via the Canvas link provided
o Also submit your Excel sheet used to do the calculations section.
• Double-spaced text is not required, in fact 1.15 or 1.5 spacing is preferred.
• Embed graphs or charts within the text as you like, preferably near your discussion of the graphic in the text.
• Cite all sources used at the end. (Use an appropriate format of your choosing - AP, MLA, etc.)
• Add an appendix of data used. (Paste the data in as a JPG/picture, please.)
• If you are referring to many ratios or data points you collect or calculate from one or many sources (other than the #3 Calculations, below), please put these in a table near the part of the paper you are discussing them. That is, make things easier for me to read and follow.
Address these topics keeping in mind the percentage of each section toward your grade. Use headers for each topic and sub-topic as appropriate to improve readability:
1. SECTOR, INDUSTRY and BUSINESS UNITS (30 points)
a. Recommendation
b. Trends, prospects and key ratios
2. ANALYSIS (50 points)
a. QUALITATIVE FACTORS
b. QUANTITATIVE FACTORS
3. RECOMMENDATION & SUMMARY (20 points)
4. REFERENCES (required - use an appropriate format and cite everything)
5. CALCULATIONS (50 points - add an Appendix of data and tables used for your calculations)
VIDEO: Industry Analysis segment
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7qQ9vFXl9ytanZjYmJGWEUzbHM/edit?usp=sharing
1. SECTOR, INDUSTRY and BUSINESS UNITS
• SECTOR and INDUSTRY:
- Make a recommendation as to whether you think the Industry should be "Over-", "Market-", or "Underweighted" by prospective investors, and justify it.
o Note that your recommendation for the Industry and your recommendation the company may not agree with each other
- You could "Overweight" an industry but might think the stock is a "Hold" within that industry, or vice versa.
- This recommendation and all timeframes for the project should be looking about 1+ year(s) into the future.
- Discuss trends for the overall SECTOR of your company - revenue, margin and earnings. Discuss the balance sheet and valuation ratios of interest for this sector.
- Describe and discuss the INDUSTRY of your company - revenues, margin, growth, ratios, etc.
o What are the prospects for this industry (and/or sub-industries) in the future, and why do you think so?
o What are the key industry ratios and statistics one needs to consider when analyzing the industry?
- You may rely heavily on the research and forecasts of others for this and parts to follow. You're not expected to be an expert at this stage, but the analysis and word chosenmust be your own.
- You should at least refer to the S&P Capital IQ / NetAdvantage report for your company's Industry as a source.
o https://www.netadvantage.standardandpoors.com.dax.lib.unf.edu/NASApp/NetAdvantage/loadIndustrySurvey.do?task=loadIndustriesPage
o IMPORTANT: Make sure you get the latest report for your Industry. S&P will regroup categories or industries at times, and they may keep old categories in the list to provide history.
• BUSINESS UNITS:
• Describe thedistinct Business Units of your company. This section may also include channels of distribution and/or how the business varies by geographic distribution. Some companies are organized by products, customers, geography, etc.
1. Many of these firms are large conglomerates, so they may be known for one major product, but they often have many smaller lines of business that are very significant.
o These businesses could be growing or declining, and it may be worth discussing them.
o Try to include the relative size of the business units ($ and/or % of sales).
• NOTE: Your company may not have very distinct and separate "business units," but there usually is at least some organization or at least distinction of the business by products, customers, geography, etc.
o Apple (AAPL) has iPhone, iPad, Mac, iTunes, etc - all multi-billion dollar businesses - all with different cash flows and growth opportunities.
o Boston Beer Co. (SAM) is in the Consumer Staples sector, the Alcohol Beverages & Tobacco industry, the Brewers sub-industry, and its business varies little if at all outside "Brewers."
o If your company is more like SAM than AAPL, dedicate more time and space to the analysis of the "sector" or "industry" section (above).
- You might also delve into the varying aspects of a company's business, e.g. channels of distribution.
o Starbucks (SBUX), part of the Consumer Discretionary sector and the Restaurants industry, is known for coffee sold in its stores, but over 20% of its business is now derived from other retail partners.
o In its stores, 20% of sales are now food-related - an area identified as a growth opportunity years ago.
2. ANALYSIS: Analyze your company based on how the S&P industry report recommends. See the section on "How to analyze a company in the _________ industry."
• Be sure to use the S&P industry and company reports as part of your source material(cite all sources used)
• At a minimum in this section, you should have bolded sections where you cover:
• QUALITATIVE FACTORS
• QUANTITATIVE FACTORS
• These should include industry and competitive comparisons
• When searching for a company report, make sure "Resources" under "Companies" is set to "Stock Reports" AND you are searching by "Ticker" if that's what you want to use. (This S&P website has some design issues, as you'll find out.)
• Portions of the Standard & Poor's Net Advantage Stock Report might only be accessible while you are on the UNF network.
• As with the Mutual Fund Project, I'm less interested in your ability to report on random data points
- ... I want you to tell me what they mean.
- This section of your report is your main chance to impress.
VIDEO: Analyzing your company
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7qQ9vFXl9ytR0JKajhQTEZGb0k/edit?usp=sharing
3. RECOMMENDATION & SUMMARY: Summarize and supportthe recommendation you've made for your stock as one of the following
• Clearly state your recommendation as a STRONG BUY, BUY, HOLD, SELL, or STRONG SELL, and justify it.
• Do not suggest your recommendation is based on the fact that the majority of analysts are currently making the same recommendation.
• All conclusions should be supported by your detailed analysis of the ratios or additional topics you discussed.
4. CALCULATIONS for your company
• These will be sent separately. You'll be asked to do a variety of company specific calculations based on data downloaded from Yahoo.
• Note, that these calculations do not have to factor into your analysis of the company. In fact, you should use any values you calculate very carefully if at all in making your recommendation(s).
• For example, you may be asked to do a valuation of your company based on a dividend or similar discount model, and the valuation you calculate may vary significantly from the company's current selling price. This does not mean you should make your recommendation on this.
• A very important part of this project is to apply real-world data with the finance calculations we teach. These formulas are highly sensitive to the input values used, so you may find your input values- while technically valid and usable - may not be appropriate measures into perpetuity, thus any valuation made on this would be suspect. More on this later in the course.
Remember to organize your paper with headings for each topic
1. SECTOR, INDUSTRY and BUSINESS UNITS (30 points)
a. Recommendation
b. Trends, prospects and key ratios
2. ANALYSIS (50 points)
a. QUALITATIVE FACTORS
b. QUANTITATIVE FACTORS
3. RECOMMENDATION & SUMMARY (20 points)
4. REFERENCES (required - use an appropriate format and cite everything)
5. CALCULATIONS (50 points - add an Appendix of data and tables used for your calculations)
This is to guide your discussion and make it easier for me to read and grade. Points off for not doing so.This will also help you post information to the Socrative link after your submission is due. Also don't forget to post to Socrative link, as well.
Note that you may include as much additional analysis as you see fit. There is a wealth of information available in S&P NetAdvantage to guide you and support your research. Additional sources may be used
Sample research reports are provided in the Projects folder in Assignments. The examples are from the UNF Library resources, but you are encouraged to gather additional information.
VIDEO: Summary, extra credit and the Osprey Finance Group (OFG)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7qQ9vFXl9ytVnFsZ2dKWHJ1T1E/edit?usp=sharing
Attachment:- Attachments.rar