Portfolio Management
BA338-01
Winter, 2008
Meeting Time:
Place: Business Center 101 Office:
Office Phone: 352-8428 Home Phone: 352-2197 (before
Office Hours: M
T
W
H
Textbook: The
Wall Street Journal will be the source of most of our discussion material.
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. NOTE:
“Use” does not mean confiscate for your use only. DO NOT remove copies of the paper
from their assigned locations.
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. Each
student will be asked to monitor two of the current investments in the
portfolio. Students will report weekly
about events affecting the value of the CURRENT
company's stock: e.g. the announcement of stock dividends (should be at least
once during the semester), announcement of quarterly earnings (should be at
least once during the semester), introduction of new products, etc. The basic source of this information would be
The
Wall Street Journal. You may
also need to use an Internet site or other resources for articles on your
companies—must have at least TEN articles per company during the
semester plus the report of quarterly earnings and dividend declaration, if
appropriate. These article summaries should
be written on the BUFF and GOLDENROD colored forms provided. Students will be assigned these stocks at the
first class session—
2. Each student will select two potential investments that are not currently in the portfolio
to follow during the semester. Students
will select these stocks at the third class session—January 22nd—no
two students will be following the same stock.
Students will report weekly about events affecting the value of the NEW company's stock: e.g. the
announcement of stock dividends (should be at least once during the semester),
announcement of quarterly earnings (should be at least once during the
semester), introduction of new products, etc.
The basic source of this information would be The Wall Street Journal. You may also need to use an Internet site or
other resources for articles on your companies—must have at least TEN
articles per company during the semester plus the report of quarterly
earnings and dividend declaration, if appropriate. These article summaries should be written on
the BLUE and PINK forms provided. The
journals will be collected for review by the instructor on Tuesday, February 26th
and Tuesday, April 9th. 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.
3.
Students must write a short
paper (4—6 pages) on a topic of their choosing.
The topic should be related to personal investment. Could be a report on a finance term (e.g.
What is a DRIP? How are ADR’s different
from domestic stocks?), investment topic (e.g. What is the role of a broker in
investment transactions? What is the
purpose of a stock index?), or you could review an investment related book. Students must select their topics by—you may
want to have a conversation with the instructor before that date about possible
topics. Students will also make a 10
minute presentation of their paper to the class during the last few sessions of
the course. The final draft of the paper is due on Tuesday, April 9th.
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—Tuesday, April 9th.
The final decisions will be made during the last session of the
semester—Monday, April 14th at
5. There are two operational positions that
students need to fill at each week’s session.
We will make sure that each student serves in each capacity at least
once (maybe twice) during the term. Check the discussion/assignment sheet to see
when you are scheduled to fulfill these roles this semester.
A. Secretary--you will take minutes of
the session and formally write them up for a historical 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 when the minutes are read.
B. 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
6. There
will be 14 class sessions. 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 for
the class—he will lead each class session, maintain files on the various
investments, assist students in locating information for their reports, and
present material that students have requested.
DISCUSSION
ITEMS FOR Winter TERM 2008
(The discussion items listed are a tentative list of
topics to be covered during the semester.
If students have some specific topics, Professor Magnall can change
items to make sure those items are covered this semester.)
1.
Tuesday, January 8
Secretary: NO ONE
Treasurer: MAGNALL—Status of the fund at the
beginning of the semester
TOPIC: Introduction to the class and Understanding
our Process
Assignment of Current
Stock Holdings
Discussion of last
semester’s decisions
2.
Tuesday, January 15
Secretary: NEIL
S.
Treasurer: Everyone—Assignment
#1
TOPIC: Discussion of Investment
Terminology
3.
Tuesday, January 22
Secretary: YE T.
Treasurer: MATT C.
TOPIC: Selection of Potential Companies for
Investment
Students have
financial statements for current stocks
4. Tuesday, January 29
Secretary: NATHANIEL J.
Treasurer: HO YIN L.
TOPIC: How
to Analyze Investments—bring calculators to class this day
Assign
past decisions to current students for analysis
5. Tuesday, February 5
Secretary: BEN
B.
Treasurer: BEN
H.
TOPICS: Discussion of the
analysis of past decisions
Handout Value Line Workbook
6. Tuesday, February 12
Secretary: ERIC B.
Treasurer: NEIL S.
TOPIC: Discussion of Value Line Material
7. Tuesday, February 19
Secretary: MATT C
Treasurer: YE T.
TOPIC: Portfolio Allocations
8. Tuesday, February 26
Secretary: HO YIN L.
Treasurer: NATHANIEL J.
TOPIC: TOPIC TO BE DETERMINED
Students turn in article summaries for review
9. Tuesday, March 12
Secretary: BEN H.
Treasurer: BEN B.
TOPIC: topic to be determined
10. Tuesday, March 19
Secretary: MAGNALL
Treasurer: ERIC B.
TOPIC: Student Paper Presentations—group 1
NEIL
SUCKOW, YE THWAY, MATT CHEESEMAN
11. Tuesday, March 26
Secretary: _________
Treasurer: _________
TOPIC: Student
Paper Presentations—group 2
NATHANIEL
JANZEN, HO YIN LEUNG, BENJAMIN B.
12. Tuesday, April 2
Secretary: _________
Treasurer: _________
TOPIC: Student
Paper Presentations—group 3
KYLE
FAABORG, BEN HOGAN, ERIC BRUHN
13. Tuesday, April 9 (This session may take longer than the scheduled 50 minutes)
Secretary: __________
Treasurer: __________
TOPIC: Students will make presentations of investments
Final Draft of Paper is Due
14. Monday, April 14
Secretary: MAGNALL
Treasurer: MAGNALL