Assignment 1: Financial Research Report

Imagine that you are a financial manager researching investments for  your client. Think of a friend or a family member as a client. Define  her or his characteristics and goals such as an employee or employer,  relatively young (less than 40 years) or close to retirement, having  some savings/property, a risk taker or risk averter, etc. Next, use  Nexis Uni at the Strayer University library, located at Nexis Uni,  click on “Company Dossier” to research the stock of any U.S. publicly  traded company that you may consider as an investment opportunity for  your client. Your investment should align with your client’s investment  goals. (Note: Please ensure that you are able to find  enough information about this company in order to complete this  assignment. You will create an appendix, in which you will insert  related information.)

Your final financial research report will be 6 to 8 pages long and be  completed in two parts as noted below. This assignment requires you to  use at least five quality academic resources and cover the following  topics:

• Rationale for choosing the company in which to invest 
• Ratio analysis 
• Stock price analysis 
• Recommendations 

Refer to the following resources to assist with completing your assignment:

Stock Selection

• Forbes: “Six rules to follow when picking stocks” 
• CNN Money: “Stocks: Investing in stocks” 
• The Motley Fool: “13 steps to investing foolishly” 
• Seeking Alpha: “The Graham And Dodd Method For Valuing Stocks” 
• Investopedia: “Guide to Stock-Picking Strategies” 
• Seeking Alpha: “Get Your Smart Beta Here! Dividend Growth Stocks As ‘Strategic Beta’ Investments” 

Market and Company Information

• U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission: “Market structure” 
• Yahoo! Finance 
• Mergent Online (Note: This resource is also available through the Strayer Learning Resource Center.) 
• Seeking Alpha (Note: This is also available through the Android or iTunes App store.) 
• Morningstar (Note: You can create a no-cost Basic Access account.) 
• Research Hub, located in the left menu of your course in Blackboard 

Part 1 Due Week 7 (1 to 2 pages)

1. Provide a rationale for the stock that you selected, indicating the  significant economic, financial, and other factors that led you to  consider this stock. 
2. Suggest the primary reasons why the selected stock is a  suitable investment for your client. Include a description of your  client’s profile. 
3. Just list five resources you’ll use to  complete this assignment and begin to build your reference list.  Remember you must use at least five quality academic resources for the  final assignment. 

Part 2 Due Week 9 (6 to 8 pages including #1 and #2 from Part 1)

1. Include your rationale, primary reasons for stock selection, and  client’s profile from Part 1, making any revisions based upon Part 1  feedback if applicable. 
2. Select any five financial ratios that you have learned about in the text. Analyze the past 3  years of the selected financial ratios for the company; you may obtain  this information from the company’s financial statements. Determine the  company’s financial health. (Note: Suggested ratios include, but are not limited to, current ratio, quick ratio, earnings per share, and price earnings ratio.) 
3. Based on your financial review, determine the risk level of the  stock from your investor’s point of view. Indicate key strategies that  you may use in order to minimize these perceived risks. 
4. Provide your recommendations of this stock as an investment  opportunity. Support your rationale with resources, such as  peer-reviewed articles, material from the Strayer University Library, and reviews by market analysts. 
5. Conduct a literature review and list at least five quality academic resources. Note: Wikipedia and other similar websites do not qualify as academic resources. 

Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:

• Be typed, double-spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with  1-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow the  Strayer Writing Standards (SWS). The format is different than other  Strayer University courses. Please take a moment to review the SWS  documentation for details. 
• Properly cite all sources. 
• Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment,  the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the  date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the  required assignment page length. 

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are as follows:

• Determine the suitability of an investment strategy that considers external risk factors and a literature review. 
• Create investment recommendations based on research that includes the rationale and risk mitigation for the chosen strategies.