Finance 3310 Project Due November 14, 2006

I. Investing in Stocks A Pick a company that is listed in Valueline that starts with the first letter of your last name. Obtain a copy of the Valueline report for this firm from the library. B. Make a copy of the report of your company from the Standard and Poor’s Stock Reports (hg 4907.s72). C. Plot in excel the price of your chosen company’s stock from October 1 to November 7 on a graph. Include a table of the prices with the graph. Describe where you got the price data. D. Calculate the expected return on your stock using the Capital Asset Pricing Model if the risk free rate is 3.5% and next year the market grows by: a. 5% b. 10 % c. 20% d.–15% E. Obtain a copy of the annual report from the company’s website and calculate the seventeen financial ratios in your text. Save the report to a disk, turn in the disk with your project, and print only the 4 financial statements. (Show the numbers that you are using, don’t just provide the answer for the calculation)

II. Investing in Bonds A. Plot the Yield Curve in excel. (see Chapter 4 problem 4-9 and the study guide) (use the WSJ treasury listings and include a copy) B. Obtain a quote for one of your company’s bonds from the Wall Street Journal. (include a copy) Describe the components of the quote (what the numbers mean), and calculate the current yield and Yield to Maturity. (If your firm is not quoted in the WSJ, use a company that starts with the same letter as your firm, or a competitor.) C. Look up the bond used in B in Moody’s/Mergent. Describe the covenants, restrictions and conditions your text lists and note any of these that this bond possesses (include a copy of the Mergent Report) .

III. Finances A. Student Loans 1. Calculate your minimum monthly payment for the student loan balance you expect to have when you graduate. (If you have no student loans, email me for a loan balance and interest rate.) Include the interest rate that you are being charged.(show the steps used to get a calculator answer) 2. If you make an extra $50 per month payment, how much will that reduce the time you have to make payments? .(show the steps used to get a calculator answer) 3. Create an amortization table in excel for both 1 and 2 above to confirm your results. Save the XL table to the disk with the annual report. B. Retirement 1. If you saved $7800 per year (merely $150 each week) from your paycheck from the time you graduated school until you retired, how much wealth would you have accumulated? (be sure to include your age now, your age at retirement and describe how you determined the interest rate you used to make this calculation). 2. If you waited for 5 years to begin this retirement plan, what would your balance be at retirement? 3. Based on your final answers to 1 and 2 above, what would your retirement income be once you retired if you a. earned 4% and only lived off the earnings (did not draw down the principal) b. earned 4% and created an annuity to last until you were 85 years old. 4. Write at least 2 paragraphs on the costs and benefits (risks and rewards) of each of the plans outlined in number 3.

IV. Miscellaneous A Insurance (you may look this information up online) 1. Call/contact 2 insurance companies other than your current insurer and from each obtain the price of insurance for either your current car, or the “car of your dreams”… or the one you think you might buy when you graduate. (Be sure to include the pertinent details of the car and coverage). (Tell the agent that you are doing this for a class project and if they are busy that you will call them back later.) 2. Call/contact 2 insurance companies other than your current insurer and from each obtain the price for Renter’s Insurance or homeowner’s insurance if you have a house already. 3. Describe how these quotes compare with your current coverage. B. Careers. 1. Pick 3 jobs that you feel your major qualifies you to perform. Obtain a copy of the Occupational Outlook Handbook and make a copy of the pages that cover those occupations. (turn in the copies) 2. Write three paragraphs ON EACH of these career opportunities (nine paragraphs in all). Include why you feel that they are still, or are no longer, careers you wish to pursue. Also include whether the employment and salary outlook listed in the Handbook match what you expected. C. Credit Report. Print the ‘personal information’ page showing your name and address from your Equifax credit report. Obtain this page from https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp. Print only the page that shows your ‘personal information’ such as your name and address, do not turn in any of your personal credit information. This report is free.

Save the word document to a disk and include it with the project. Submit a copy of the word document to Turnitin.com . Place your project materials in a binder and separate each item with a divider. Label each divider. This assignment is due at the beginning of class on November 14.

Here are the instructions to use Mergent: 1. Go to the Electronic Databases page (http://rattler.tamucc.edu/elecres/) and click on "Business". 2. On the next screen, scroll down to "Company Information" and click on "Mergent Online". 3. Once you have accessed the database, click on "Basic Search". Then type in the ticker symbol of a company. 4. Once you have clicked on the name of the company, you should see the basic screen. Look at the dark green line at the top of the page that begins with "Synopsis". On the same line, go over to the far right, and you will see "Long-Term Debt".

Click on "Long-Term Debt", and that section should come up.

If this doesn't answer your question, please let me know! I will certainly keep digging!

Ed Kownslar Ext. 2677