Course Syllabus

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SMIF15 Outline.doc

Course Syllabus

Student Managed Investment Fund

INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Bala Arshanapalli        

OFFICE: MP 1126

PHONE: 219-980-6919 (Office) or 219-980-6640 (Secretary)

E-MAIL: barshana@iun.edu

OFFICE HOURS: Monday 1:30 – 4:30 pm, and/or by appointment

 

Course Objective:

The purpose of this course is to give you a hands-on money management experience by investing real $50,000 fund. The major areas of fund management to be covered are: (1) portfolio objectives and risk measurement, (2) industry/ sector analysis, (3) company analysis and valuation, (4) portfolio formation and risk control, (5) trading and (6) performance evaluation.

Texts and Readings:

  1. 1.      Wall Street Journal
  2. 2.      Barron’s

 

Grading: Course grades will be based on contributions in four areas:

 

• Industry Sector Reports/Presentations

 

• Stock Recommendation Reports/Presentations

 

• Productive Class Participation

 

• Attendance

 

Presentations: The course involves real time investment decision-making.  Students will work in teams with each team participating in an industry /sector and recommending to buy at least two equity presentations.  Buy presentations are to be accompanied by a report that must be distributed to the class during the class period before the presentation.  (This will allow rest of the class the time to review your material).

Attendance: Attendance is crucial to the success of the course. Given the importance of classroom discussion, it is imperative that all students contribute their ideas.

 

Student Responsibilities:

Students will be required to perform research in the areas of:

 

• Economic analysis

 

• Industry analysis

 

• Stock analysis and stock selection

 

• Stock and portfolio risk measurement

 

• Sector, industry and individual stock weight recommendations

 

• Performance measurement

 

Diversification and Benchmarking:

 

The portfolio’s performance will be benchmarked to the S&P 500.

 

Final Comments:

 

In our efforts to propose and implement a meaningful investment strategy, we will need a constant set of checks and balances involving the participation of everyone. We will have to smile at our own mistakes and be constructive in our comments about the analysis of others. Moreover, many of our decisions will revolve around judgment calls that are inherently qualitative and subjective. Your responsibility is to give your best effort so that you absorb plenty of knowledge about the investment process and contribute to the success of this team oriented course. Please remember that your comments/criticisms of your classmates’ work must be constructive.

Most Important Comment: Your participation in and contribution to this class will be crucial to the success of the class.

Data and Information Sources:

A fair amount of financial data is freely available on the Internet. There are several websites, many of which do not charge a fee, which can be used to screen stocks that meet pre-selected criteria. Analysts’ company reports from several investment firms are available from the IUN’s library’s databases. Some of these are:

 

  • FactSet
  • Standard and Poor’s Net Advantage
  • Datastream
  • Morningstar
  • Factiva

 

Schedule:

 

Week 1: Introduction and course overview

  • Selection of industry sectors and stocks to review
  • Discussion of sources of information
  • Components of a research report
  • Introduction to industry analysis:
  • o   Trends versus fads in the industry
  • o   Key drivers of industry profits
  • o   Cyclical versus Non-cyclical industries and implications for analyses

 

  • Ø  Outside class: Work in teams to begin industry analyses

 

Week 2:          

  • Industry analysis continues

 

  • Ø  Outside class: Continue to work in teams on industry analyses.

 

 

Week 3:          

 

  • Portfolio Objectives
  • Economic outlook and forecasts of interest rates and market returns
  • Begin review of company analysis and valuation methods (financial statement analysis, relative value measures, DCF models)
  • o   Walmart example of use of relative value measures

 

  • Ø  Outside class: Continue to work in teams on selecting stocks.

 

Week 4:          

  • Relative value measures as screening tools/comparing companies in an industry
  • Portfolio Performance assignment

 

  • Ø  Outside class: Continue to work in teams on selecting stocks.

 

 

Week 5:          

 

  • Guest speaker – “Stock Evaluation”
  • Components of a research report
  • Individual company presentation template
  • Stock recommendation template

 

 

Week 6:          

Review of company analysis and valuation methods (continued)

  • Presentation techniques
  • Cash flow and DCF continued
  • o   Walmart example of use of DCF models

 

  • Ø  Outside class: Continue to work in teams. Put in the trade to buy stocks

 

Week 7:          

  • Team Sector presentations
  • CAPM and required rate of return

 

  • Ø  Outside class: Work on stock analyses.

 

Week 8:          

  • Team Sector presentations

                                                      

  • Ø  Outside class: Work on stock analyses.

 

Week 9:           Portfolio Performance Measurements

  • Ø  Outside class: Work on stock analyses.

 

Week 10:        

Current Economic Conditions

 

  • Ø  Outside class: Work on stock analyses.

Week 11          3/28

                        A Reflection on What we have learnt

  • Ø  Outside class: Work on stock analyses.

 

Week 12 - 14

  • Stock reviews due

 

Week 15         

Final preparation of documents for the Advisory Board

 

 

 

Course Summary:

Course Summary
Date Details Due