BUSINESS > COURSE MATERIALS > PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT

Portfolio Management Course

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Textbook: The Wall Street Journal will be the source of most of our discussion material. You have an opportunity to subscribe to the Journal at a reduced student rate, but a subscription is NOT a requirement (please let me know if you would like to subscribe by Monday, September 13). There are many copies of The Wall Street Journal available on campus (library, business administration department complex, instructor's office, etc.) that you may be able to use for this class.

Course Objectives: "Students will study techniques for analyzing a variety of investment opportunities and make decisions on how the funds of a special endowment fund--Corporation Education Day Fund--will be invested."

Course content and evaluation process:

This course is offered on a Pass/Fail basis only. Students must fulfill the following 6 requirements to pass the course.

1. Students will be asked to monitor some of the current holdings in the portfolio. Students will report weekly about events affecting the value of the company's stock, the announcement of stock dividends, announcement of quarterly earnings, etc. The basic source of this information would be The Wall Street Journal. At the end of the semester the student will make a recommendation regarding the investment--1. hold the investment, 2. sell the investment, or 3. add to the investment. These weekly reports should be written on the forms provided. Students will be assigned these stocks at the first class session. The journals will be collected for review by the instructor.

2. Students will select two potential investments that are not currently in the portfolio to follow during the semester. Selection of these stocks must be announced at the third class session. Students will follow these stocks on a weekly basis and do other analysis to determine whether it would be a good investment. At the end of the semester, the student will make a short presentation if they feel that the investment is one that should be added to the portfolio. These weekly reports should be written on the sheets that are distributed the first day of class. These journals will be collected for review.

3. Students must write a short paper and make a 15-20 minute presentation on some aspect of financial investment or review an investment book. Students will choose their topics. The topics will be approved by the instructor. Topics should be selected and approved by the 5th session of the term. It is at that session that the presentation order will also be assigned.

4. Students will make decisions regarding the sale of any current holdings in the portfolio and the purchase of any new securities. Students will make presentations of potential buy or sell decisions during the second to last session. The final decisions will be made during the last session of the semester.

5. Students will serve in three organizational capacities during the semester.

A. Chairperson --you will lead the class on this day. You formulate the agenda for the day, control the discussion and run the session.

B. Secretary --you will take minutes of the session and formally write them up for a historic record of the events of the class--this includes listing which students are present and which students are absent at this session and a summary of events for the day. At the beginning of the next session you may be asked to read the minutes of the previous meeting and you are turn in to the instructor a signed copy of the minutes at this session.

C. Treasurer --you will be asked to use the stock quotations from the Monday edition of The Wall Street Journal to prepare a report of the current valuation of the portfolio. There is an Excel spreadsheet to assist you with this process. Either you can come the Professor's Magnall's office to enter and print the weekly report, or you can request an electronic copy of the spreadsheet be sent to you. You are to enter the week's prices on the sheet labeled "Prices," and print the sheet labeled with the academic year, i.e. “2006-2007”. (This sheet will bring in this week's price and last week's price for you to compare the changes for the week.)

6. There are 13 class sessions and students MUST attend the Corporation Education Day Convocation. Students may not miss more than 2 class sessions for any reason. An attendance record will be a part of each week's minutes. You will be given a warning after the second absence.

The role of the faculty member is a facilitator of the class--he will maintain files on the various investments, assist students in locating information for their reports, and present material for students as requested.

The material to be discussed during the semester has not been planned out; the students select the topics to be discussed. The plans for class sessions will be scheduled on a week-to-week basis. The following pages can be used to keep track of our plans.

Wartburg has one of the oldest student-managed portfolios among U.S. colleges today. You won't be playing with paper or electronic money. You will have the chance to invest the dividends and interest from a portfolio valued at over 1 million dollars in assets. Think about how that will look on your resume (not to mention your personal balance sheet as you build these skills for the long-run.)

Note: The course is open to any students. You need not be a major in the department to participate. All you need is approval from Department Chair Paul Magnall.

NOTE: Not all business courses offer online supplemental materials. This page includes a listing of courses with such materials.

Click here for a complete list of courses offered by the Wartburg Business Administration and Economics Department.

* These courses meet Essential Education requirements as connected, core, or diversity requirements.