Corp. Financial Analisys

1) “Investment Decisions” Please respond to the following:

· Analyze the factors that influence investment decisions at different stages in an investor’s life cycle, and make a recommendation at which stage the average investor should consider financial investments. Provide support for your recommendation.

· Assess how cultural differences in foreign countries impact investor asset allocations.

2) “Globalization” Please respond to the following:

· From the e-Activity, analyze how national exchanges around the world are linked and suggest which exchange most significantly impacts the U.S. markets. Explain your rationale.

· Assess the factor(s) contributing to the global consolidation of stock, bonds, and derivative exchange. Predict the impact to these exchanges in the future.

3) “Efficient Markets” Please respond to the following:

· Analyze the most significant driver in an efficient market and whether or not you would characterize the U.S. markets as efficient. Provide support for your position.

· Discuss how behavioral finance concepts, such as bias, may impact investor decisions and the efficiency of financial markets.

4) “Global Investments” Please respond to the following:

· Construct an argument for the average investor to consider diversifying into international markets.

· Based on international market performance, predict which foreign market will yield the highest return to investors over the next year. Provide support for your prediction.

5) “Portfolio Management” Please respond to the following:

· Assess the factors that contribute to someone being risk adverse and how risk aversion may be diminished for investors.

· Explain how a given investor chooses an optimal portfolio and the most significant driver that determines if a diversified or single asset will be used.

6) “Asset Analysis” Please respond to the following:

· Recommend an alternative to the CAPM for analyzing capital assets. Provide support for your recommendation.

· In times of depressed real estate values, create a rationale for investing 20% of an investor’s portfolio in real estate, given that an investor believes it to be too risky.

7) “Risk and Return” Please respond to the following:

· Analyze how the economic factors of industrial production, inflation, risk premia, term structure, aggregate consumption, and oil prices impact portfolio risk and return. Determine which factor has the most significant influence in the current economy. Explain your rationale.

· Assess the effectiveness of using multifactor models to help investors understand the relative risk exposures in their portfolios relative to benchmark portfolios. Make a recommendation on how investor understanding may be improved. Support your rationale.

8) “Business Risk and Analysis” Please respond to the following:

· Determine whether a steel company or a retail food chain would have a greater business risk. Provide support for your rationale.

· Select one of the limitations of ratio analysis and indicate why you believe it is a major concern when predicting future financial performance.

9) “Investment Valuation” Please respond to the following:

· Discuss why you would not expect all industries to have a similar relationship trend to the economy. Provide an example of two industries that have a different relationship to 

· Assess how the required rate of return on investment for a U.S. investor in common stocks may differ from the required rate of return on investment for a Japanese investor. Explain the factors that would determine the required rate of return for stocks in the U.S.  versus Japan, and which you believe is the most significant.

10) “Stock Markets and the Economy” Please respond to the following:

· Assess the impact on the U.S. stock market when the Federal Reserve increases the money supply, and whether or not you believe the impact is predictable.

· Given the current economic growth rate in the U.S., predict whether or not the three primary U.S. stock indices will increase or decrease over the course of the next 12 months. Support your prediction.

11) “Industry Analysis” Please respond to the following:

· Discuss the proposition that differences in the performance of various firms within an industry limit the usefulness of industry analysis. Provide an example of an industry where this statement holds true.

· Analyze an industry that you believe is in stage 2 of the industry life cycle. Provide evidence that supports your analysis.

12) “Growth Companies” Please respond to the following:

· From the e-Activity and based on the growth company selected, assess why it is a growth stock and if that status is sustainable.

· Evaluate whether or not P/E is an effective indicator of a growth stock. Suggest an alternative.

13) “Global Company Analysis” Please respond to the following:

· Assess the gaps with the availability of information related to international markets, industries, and stocks. Recommended a strategy for investment professionals to analyze foreign markets given the data limitations.

· Discuss how foreign countries’ accounting differences make foreign analysis difficult and whether or not adopting a global accounting standard will elevate this difficulty. Provide support for your answer.