For this research project, you will select a publicly traded company to investigate over the course of the following weeks. You may choose a company where you are currently employed, a company where you might seek employment, a company you’ve read about, or a company that piques your interest. For instance, you may research Starbucks (stock symbol SBUX) because you drink a latte every day, Toyota (TM) because you drive their cars or have been following the news, or Amazon (AMZN) because you are interested in their electronic reading experience, the Kindle.
You will research sources, such as Yahoo! Finance and MSN Money and Bloomberg, for the financial highlights and trading information on your selected company. Using these sites, you will compute the ratios for the four most recent quarters of your chosen company. An Excel template will be provided for you to compute these ratios.
In Week 7, you will complete the research project by submitting the final results in a formal report. Create your report as a Word document, which you will then attach. This report will include your ratio computations, a financial trend comparison, an industry-performance comparative financial analysis, and a comparative SWOT analysis. Most important, you will make decisions about what you as an investor have to lose or gain by investing in your selected company. You will also assume the role of a member of the Board of Directors of a bank that will consider whether to extend the company a line of credit. In this culminating activity, the knowledge you have gained and the skills you have practiced will be applied in a report similar to those you will eventually execute on a regular basis.