SEATTLE BUS101 assignment 1

Assignment

THE STOCK MARKET GAME

Part One – Choose Your Portfolio

For this assignment you will choose three publicly-traded stocks that you will follow all quarter. For this week you will turn in the name of your stocks with an explanation as to why you choose them.

Dont know anything about the stock market? Dont panic. Were keeping it very simple.

Some of the links below will give you an introduction to stock market investing.

Heres what you do:

I. Choose a method for picking stocks.

First get an overview of the stock market at about.com: There are many

(probably hundreds) of strategies for choosing stocks. A very simple one that

has been wildly successful in the hands of legendary mutual fund manager Peter

Lynch is called Buy What You Know. Read about it at Introduction to the Stock

Market. and “KISS”–Keep It Simple, Stupid! .

Using this method, choose FIVE of your favorite products or services and find out

who makes/offers them, and who the parent company is, if there is one (this

information should be available on the company web site, or google parent

company: company name). The Ten Parent Companies That Make Your

Favorite Brand may surprise you. You are looking for
companies that are publicly
traded in the United States.

You may also choose companies using your own system.

II. Research these companies.

You are looking for information on these companies, their industries, and the

economy in general.

The internet is a wealth of information-Google is your best friend here. Two

places to start are:

MSN Money at http://money.msn.com (use the search box)

Yahoo Finance’s Stock Research Center at http://finance.yahoo.com/

marketupdate

The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal both have web sites.

Take notes as you research for the written portion of this assignment (see step VI.

below). You are trying to get a general idea about the company and its future

performance. What products do they sell? How long have they been in

business? Are they an industry leader? Are they introducing new products?

Based on your experience with them, do they offer customers value (either in

the form of a high-quality product or an appealing price, or both?) Who are

their competitors?III. From the five stocks youve researched, choose your THREE favorite

companiesthe ones you think that will perform the best over the course of the

quarter.

IV.Look up the stock symbols and the current stock price on
one of the financial
sites (msns is at http://investing.money.msn.com/investments/find-symbol).

For example, the symbol for Microsoft is MSFT. Once you’ve found the symbol,

click on it to find the current stock price.

V. Buy your stock.

Assume you are spending $10,000 on each stock, for a total portfolio value of

$30,000. You will complete a table listing the date, the company youve chosen,

the symbol, the price per share, the number of shares that youve purchased

with your $10,000. For this assignment were not worrying about sales

commissions and other transaction costs.

Heres an example:

Date Company Symbol Price No. of

Value

4/3 Microsoft MSFT 25.84 386.97 10,000

4/3 Google GOOG 390.0 25.6 10,000

4/3 Chicos CHS 40.64 246 10,000

VI.Explain your reasons for choosing this stock. In two or three well-written

paragraphs, cover the following points for each stock youve chosen:

Brief company profile for each stock you own during the game. Include a —

summary of the company’s products, where it operates, strengths and –

weaknesses especially in comparison to competitors.

What first led you to this stock (you like one of their products, etc.)?

How will current economic conditions and trends affect this industry? (E.g., aging

baby boomers will boost pharmaceutical sales). Here’s a list that may help from

howthemarketworks.com.

Are there any events within the company that may affect performance positively or

negatively (new product introduction, a lawsuit pending
thats been in the news,
etc.)?

Note: Your analysis should be written in narrative (or paragraph) style,

summarizing your research. Do not merely copy and paste quotes off

the internet.

Also explain why you rejected the other two stocks answering the same questions.

NOTE: For your last assignment of the quarter you will look up the stock price again

and compute your ending portfolio value. You will briefly discuss your stocks

performance and what you think influenced it, including current events that affected the

economy and stock market in general, and your company in particular. You will turn

this in, along with an updated table that shows the return on your portfolio.

Our guarantees

Study Acers provides students with tutoring and help them save time, and excel in their courses. Students LOVE us!No matter what kind of essay paper you need, it is simple and secure to hire an essay writer for a price you can afford at StudyAcers. Save more time for yourself. Delivering a high-quality product at a reasonable price is not enough anymore.
That’s why we have developed 5 beneficial guarantees that will make your experience with our service enjoyable, easy, and safe.

Money-back guarantee

You have to be 100% sure of the quality of your product to give a money-back guarantee. This describes us perfectly. Make sure that this guarantee is totally transparent.

Zero-plagiarism guarantee

Each paper is composed from scratch, according to your instructions. It is then checked by our plagiarism-detection software. There is no gap where plagiarism could squeeze in.

Free-revision policy

Thanks to our free revisions, there is no way for you to be unsatisfied. We will work on your paper until you are completely happy with the result.

Privacy policy

Your email is safe, as we store it according to international data protection rules. Your bank details are secure, as we use only reliable payment systems.

Fair-cooperation guarantee

By sending us your money, you buy the service we provide. Check out our terms and conditions if you prefer business talks to be laid out in official language.

Get your paper done by an expert