Each student will choose one publicly traded company to investigate over the course of the
semester. The company must be publicly traded on a recognized financial exchange
(NASDAQ, NYSE, AMEX, etc.)
I highly recommend requesting a year-end annual report from your company (or
downloading it from the internet) to help you with formulating your financial plan. All the
financial data you need is included in these documents that are sent free to potential
investors.
Your in-depth exploration of your chosen company should address several issues related to
your training in finance this semester. First, provide some information about the company in
general. Who is this company? Where are they located? How many locations? How long
have they been in business? How many employees? Where are their headquarters? What do
they primarily do? What sector market are they in? Who are their competitors? What
position do they have in the market? (Leader, last, one of the leaders etc.).
Next, try to use what you know (or will have learned by the time you do it) to look at the
company through your newly acquired financial eyes. What was the average stock price over
the past year? How did the stock price change throughout the year? Get these from any
website that can search stock prices by symbol. Is there a justifiable reason for the changes
that are company specific, not based upon the overall market? What is the financial status of
the company (i.e., are they in good financial condition based upon what you have learned
from this class, how do their financial ratios look, what is in the future for them, do they have
sufficient funds to continueetc.)? A thorough explanation and comprehension of the
financial ratios is a major component of this project.
Finally, include a summary that answers questions such as what do you expect will be the
trend for this company in the next 5 years based upon your research? What markets are they
getting into that they are not presently in? How is the company changing? What kinds of
offerings do they anticipate announcing in the future? Would you invest in this company?
Why or why not? What are their financial ratios compared to their competitors? Why do
you think they are different and what influenced these figures?
5
You will create a final paper that should be around 10 pages in length (double spaced, times
new roman 12-point font) for this assignment. Be sure to include as appendices any
amplifying information that is not included in the report (industry norm ratios, copies of
financial statements, stock price over the semester, etc.)