FIN 351 WEEK 6 Assignment Course Project A + GRADE

Objectives
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Select an industry and a company within the selected industry to complete a comprehensive analysis. Develop a well-written paper focusing on fundamental and technical research. The goal is to obtain a better understanding of the financial analysis process by studying public information and market data to make informed investment decisions.
Course Project Criteria
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Course Project Progression: Review the recommended milestones in the weekly Assignment tabs towards completing your Course Project, which is due Week 6.
Course Project Submission: Your Course Project is due Week 6. Please submit your assignment to the Course Project Dropbox located in Week 6 (150 points). Late papers will not be accepted. You need to work on your Course Project as we move through the course, and I need adequate time to read and grade each paper to give it the attention it deserves.
Course Project Requirements: Your Course Project consists of valuing a firm using fundamental and technical analyses and presenting your investment recommendation. Your course project will consist of a 5-6 page paper following APA format and will include at least one graphic (refer to the line chart under technical analysis below). The project should include a title page, introduction, analysis, graphic(s), conclusion, and reference page.
Fundamental Analysis: You will prepare a top-down fundamental analysis that covers economic, industry, company, and financial analysis (Chapters 5, 6, 7, 8). The analysis should parallel the type of analysis conducted by a professional security analyst (although not with the same degree of rigor).
•	Economic analysis (Chapter 5): Your paper must cover current monetary-fiscal policy, government policy, economic indicators, inflation, gross domestic product growth (GDP), unemployment, and any foreign trade and world events that are currently affecting the securities markets.
•	Industry analysis (Chapter 6): Your paper must cover the life-cycle phase your chosen industry is in, the implications of such, and the industry structure (including but not limited to economic factors, competitive factors, and government regulation).
•	Company/financial analysis (Chapters 7 and 8): Choose a specific company within your chosen industry in which you would like to invest. Value the firm using a dividend valuation model, an earnings valuation model, and the P/E ratio. Forecast earnings per share for the next two years. Using the most recent two years of financial statements (annual report or 10-k), perform a ratio analysis using the 20 ratios presented in Chapter 8. (You do not need to calculate these ratios, but must properly cite your sources.) The analysis should comment on the most recent year's ratios and on any trends between the two years, in addition to research industry norms for the profitability, asset-utilization, liquidity, debt-utilization, and price ratios, and analyze your selected firm's performance against the industry.
Technical analysis: (Chapter 10) Using one of the readily available charting resources on the Internet, prepare a line chart on the company's price and volume movement. Discuss the overall movement of the stock price and the relationship of the stock price to volume. Using a straight line of best fit through the data, comment on the stock price that you project for the future.
Investment recommendation: Based upon the fundamental and technical analysis, present your investment recommendation, tying together the results and data from your fundamental and technical analysis and supporting your investment recommendation with your results and data.
Grading Rubrics
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Content - 86%	Points	%
Economic Analysis	25	16%
Industry Analysis	25	17%
Company Analysis	29	19%
Technical Analysis	25	17%
Valuation and Investment Recommendation	25	17%
Total	129	86%
 
Editing - 14%	Points Deduction (per occurence)	%
Spelling Error	-3	-
Punctuation/Grammatical Error	-3	-
Sentence Meaning Unclear	-3	-
Total (not to exceed)	21	14%
Total	150	100%
Best Practices
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•	Start your project as quickly as possible. You should become acquainted with the project instructions during Week 1 of the course and progressively move forward.  Please review the objective, deliverables, and milestones in the weekly Assignments tabs. 
•	Your Course Project should be well-organized.
•	Insure resources are verifiable and from a credible source.
•	Follow required APA guidelines.
A recommended timeline for project development is as follows:
•	Week 1
o	Get acquainted with project instructions and rubric.
o	Post any questions under the Q & A Forum.
•	Week 2
o	Finalize the industry and company selection.
o	Begin project work with fundamental analysis by applying the concepts covered during this week to the selected industry and company.
o	Post any questions under the Q & A Forum.
•	Week 3
o	Continue to work on fundamental analysis.
o	Perform technical analysis by applying charting techniques introduced this week to the selected company.
o	Post any questions under the Q & A Forum.
•	Week 4
o	Work on the project and begin preparing a rough draft.
o	Post any questions under the Q & A Forum.
•	Week 5
o	Work on the project and finalize your draft.
o	Post any questions under the Q & A Forum.
•	Week 6
o	Complete final project review.
o	Post any remaining questions under the Q&A Forum.
o	Submit your project by the end of Week 6.
Citation Help
Don't forget to cite your sources properly, both parenthetically and in your reference page. If you need assistance with proper citation, there is a tutorial in the Syllabus that will help you format APA correctly.