Subject: BUS106 – Business: Its Nature and Environment
Value: 10%+ of final grade
Professor: Bill Singha Phone: (416) 491-5050
Office: B3080 Newnham Campus E-Mail: bill.singha@senecacollege.on.ca
This assignment is designed to familiarize you with public corporations and the major stock exchanges.
1. Select a publicly traded corporation on your own or through the resources mentioned in class. Every student must have a different
corporation. You must post your choice on the Discussion Board beginning Friday, Week 6 (Before Study Week) at 6 pm and not one minute
earlier. Be sure to post both your name and your choice so students can see what has been chosen.
2. Visit the company profile, available through the web site, of the stock exchange on which the company is traded. This could be any
stock exchange in the world. As well, link to the company web site to obtain an overview of the company’s purpose and performance.
3. On Friday, Week 6, invest $10,000 (on paper!) in stocks issued by this company. Use the Stock Report Worksheet (see attachment) to
record your purchase and track your investment once a week up to and including the week 12. You must use the closing quotes for the Friday of
each week.
4. During the first class of the week 13, submit your written report in a folder. It should be word processed, 12 font, double-spaced,
and include the following information:
I. A title page with your name, subject, section, assignment title, professor’s name and date.
II. A one-page summary on the company. Set it up with the following sub-headings using point form.
Company name, company mission statement or statement of purpose
Industry area (technology, entertainment etc.)
Major products or services
Location of the head office, the geographic area served by this company (local, domestic, global-be specific)
The revenue for the current year and the loss or profit for the previous year if available, (do not print the financial statements)
III. Using complete sentences, include the following:
A brief summary of a recent company press release (written by some one in the company) and attach the document
A brief summary of a third party news report on this company (written by some one outside the company) and attach the document
A brief explanation on why you chose this company
IV. A one to two page analysis in essay format which details your insights and opinions on the company. For instance you might want to
discuss the company’s operations, trends/challenges, social responsibility, future plans, financial stability, investment risks, recent
awards, investigations or charges against the company, the CEO, employees, or board members.
Your report must relate directly to factual information you obtained from any of the following:
The company web site
Company annual report
Your personal association with the company if appropriate (e.g. customer, employee, actual stock holder)
Current news articles (i.e. at least one third party report – independent of company press release)
V. A closing paragraph, which explains what you learned from completing this assignment.
VI. A one page document citing your sources. You must use proper MLA citation format.
VII. Attach the Stock Market Worksheet & Risk Factor Checklist & Analysis (4 pages)
5. Evaluation
Your corporation report will be given a maximum of 40 marks and will then be translated into a mark out of fifteen towards your final grade.
Marking Scheme Marks
Title page 1
Summary of company 5
Summary of press release and third party news report, why you chose this company 6
Analysis, insight and opinion on this company, what you learned by doing this assignment 12
Stock Market Worksheets 1-4 12
Your ability to write in proper essay form i.e. grammatically correct sentences, error-free spelling, organization and clarity of thought.
Reference material cited using MLA style 2
2
40
Note: Reports submitted with 5 or more spelling errors on the first page will not be marked. Please use “spellchecker” and proofread to
ensure that all words including names and technical terms are spelled correctly.
Late Assignments: Late assignments will result in a penalty of 10% per day. Assignments will not be accepted after 5 consecutive days.
If there are valid reasons for the late assignment, the students MUST:
a) Contact the professor no later than the date the assignment is due to indicate
the assignment will be late, and
b) Present the professor with a signed, word-processed memo indicating why the
assignment was late. If the reasons are deemed to be valid, there will be no
penalty.
Student Names: 1._______2.______3._____4._____ Section: BUS 106________________ Date: _____________
BUS106: Stock Market Worksheet
Company Name: _____________________________________ Trading Symbol (or Ticker): ____________
Purchase Date: ______________________________________ Stock Market: ______________
_____________ x ____________ = ____________________________
purchase price number of shares total value of investment (not to exceed $10,000)
#1 #2 #3 #4 #5
Friday of each week Stock Value
(price $0.00)/share Total Value of Gain or (Loss) from previous week
Gain or (loss) from #3 in dollars and cents x the #of shares you bought Overall Value of Investment
Total gain or loss from #4 add or subtract from previous week. Professor’s comments
Purchase date
Week 6
$0.00
Week 7
Week 8
Week 9
Week 10
Week 11
Week 12
Week 13 ASSIGNMENT DUE FIRST CLASS OF THE WEEK 13
Overall Gain/Loss
NOTE: Always show loss in brackets e.g. (0.50) means a loss of .50/share
What is the stock’s gain or loss as a percentage of initial investment? ________________________________
Analysis:
Look at the 3-5 year history of this stock. Record the high and low price/share.
High: _____________ Low: _____________
Date: _____________ Date: _____________
What events caused the rise and/or fall of the share prices?
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
Complete the Risk Factor Checklist (page 5) Before Continuing…………..
Would you continue to invest in this company? Why or Why not?
___________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________
NOTE: Attach this form to written report and submit for final grading.
Risk Factor Checklist – All stocks are risky!
Here are some factors to help you identify how risky!
For each category circle the word that best describes your stock.
CATEGORY HIGH MEDIUM LOW COMMENTS
TYPE OF STOCK
common preferred **********************
FINANCIAL STABILITY
OF COMPANY high debt break-even profit
COMPANY’S CUSTOMER BASE few
1 region moderate
some diversification high
lots of diversification
INDUSTRY COMPETITION
high moderate little
INDUSTRY STABILITY
unstable some fluctuations little fluctuations
INDUSTRY/COMPANY
RECESSION PROOF no somewhat yes
STOCK VALUE FLUCTUATION (last 12 mths) >20% Between 10 – 20% < 10%
STOCK HISTORY
new stock
or negative history some history
mostly positive long history
positive
What other factors contribute to the risk of your stock?
• Did large amounts of stock get sold? Did an individual or company buy a large amount of stock in this company?
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
• Is there talk of mergers, acquisitions, takeovers?
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
• Did the company announce plans for a major launch or expansion? Did they announce that they are paying off debt,
restructuring the company?
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
• Any negative press (company press release or third party)?
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Other risk factors:
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Analysis:
Which categories mentioned above have a greater influence of your stock’s performance? Explain.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
With reference to the Risk Factor Checklist (page 5), do you think this stock is a high risk, medium risk or low risk? Why?
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Now return to Page 4 and answer final question.
NOTE: Attach this form to written report and submit for final grading.