FIN 534 Assignment: Financial Research Report

Assignment 1: Financial Research Report

Due Week 10 and worth 300 points

Imagine that you are a financial manager researching investments for your client that align with its investment goals. Use the Internet or the Strayer Library to research any U.S. publicly traded company that you may consider as an investment opportunity for your client. (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.)

The assignment covers the following topics:

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

Write a ten to fifteen (10-15) page paper in which you:

1. Provide a rationale for the U.S. publicly traded company that you selected, indicating the significant factors driving your decision as a financial manager.
2. Determine the profile of the investor for which this company may be a fit, relative to that potential investor’s investment strategy. Provide support for your rationale.
3. Select any five (5) financial ratios that you have learned about in the text. Analyze the past three (3) years of the company’s financial data, which you may obtain 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.)
4. Based on your financial review, determine the risk level of the company from your investor’s point of view. Indicate key strategies that you may use in order to minimize these perceived risks.
5. Provide your recommendations of this stock as an investment opportunity. Support your rationale with resources, such as peer-reviewed articles or material from the Strayer Library.
6. Use at least five (5) quality academic resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia and other Websites to not qualify as academic resources.

Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:

• Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
• 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.