See paper instructions

1
College of Staten Island
The City University of New York
School of Business
Finance 360 – Investment Analysis
Fall 2020
Stock Research Report
Professor: Paul E. Orzechowski, PhD
e-mail: paul.orzechowski@csi.cuny.edu
The report is due the last day of classes during Week 14. No projects will be accepted after the
final exam. Late reports may be penalized. Reports may be submitted early and via email.
Stock Research Report – Each student will select an individual company listed on a major
exchange (i.e. NYSE, NASDAQ) and write an in-depth research report on the company. The
research paper should be about 4-6 pages. Reports should not exceed 2100 words or six pages.
The analysis should be based on sound financial rational. Chapter 7 & 8 of the course textbook,
Fundamentals of Investing, will give you some guidance in preparing the Research Report as
well as helping you calculate key financial ratios. In addition, my lectures and class notes will
address these topics.
The security analysis research report should contain the following items:
1. Background summary about the company, its products and/or services, and recent
corporate events that are relevant to the valuation of the company.
2. A comment on the recent trends in sales and earnings along with a brief analysis of how
current macro-economic trends are relevant to the company (i.e. a discussion on interest
rates, inflation, and business cycle conditions, ect.).
3. A complete financial analysis of the company’s finances including a set of key financial
summary ratios for the past three years [some of these ratios are outline below – Ratio
Analysis]. Please complete the ratio calculations yourself or obtain them from S&P/Capital
IQ. The analysis should review the most recent three years of financial statements (i.e.
balance sheet and income statement) and make comments about the company’s financial
condition. Please provide the last three-year spreadsheet of the financial statements (B/S and
I/S) from S&P/Capital IQ and embed them into your report or as a spreadsheet attachment.
2
4. A brief comment on the company’s management (i.e. how long have they been in their
positions, are they doing a good job or bad job, ect.).
5. An analysis of the company’s relevant industry, (i.e., degree of competition, growth of
industry-wide sales, profitability of competitors, business cycle stage of the industry), and the
P/E ratios of competing companies.
6. A forecast about revenues and earnings over the next year or two. Rely on your own
forecast.
7. A buy/hold/sell recommendation of the stock along with a projected 12 (or 24) month
price objective (or range of prices) for the stock. You must select a valuation method such as
the P/E approach to formulate your future price objective. Also, indicate the appropriate
investment risk level (i.e. investors with high risk, moderate risk, and low risk) of the stock.
8. Market Beta – Each student must find their company’s market beta from at least two
sources (i.e. two separate calculations). In addition, the student is required to identify two or
three competitors of their company and find the competitors’ market beta. Many financial
services provide market beta data such as S&P/Capital IQ, finance.yahoo.com, and Value
Line (service available via CSI’s Library). The student should provide two sources of beta
calculation for the chosen company and its competitors.
The report can include (optional):
1. Illustrative graphs/charts of the stock’s past performance over the last year (or longer)
and/or a graph of historical and/or projected revenues and earnings. The graph/charts should
be embedded into the report.
2. A brief technical analysis of your stock – (i.e. price, volume, and other indicators).
Ratio Analysis
Chapter 7 & 8 of the textbook, Fundamentals of Investing, will help you in calculating these
ratios (as well as my class notes). Please calculate the following financial ratio numbers on your
company:
1. PE Ratio and PEG Ratio:
3
2. Dividend Yield and Dividend Payout Ratio:
3. Current Ratio and Net Working Capital:
4. Activity Ratio – accountants receivable and inventory turnovers:1

1 Students should use their discretion regarding the use of these ratios if they are relevant to their chosen company
(and related industry). In other words, some companies may not carry significant accounts and/or inventories as a
matter of practice.
4
5. Debt to Equity Ratio and Times Interest Earned:
6. Net Profit Margins, ROA, & ROE:
7. Earnings per share:
8. Book value per share:
EPS =
Net profit after taxes – Preferred dividends
Number of common shares outstanding