Stock Market Mini-Project

March 7, 2013

Directions• Directions: Choose one stock to focus your research on

(this does not have to be a stock that you are buying or selling in our simulation).

• Create a booklet that includes the following (directions for each section in the following slides)

Identification of stock Background information Data Analysis

• Booklets should be neat and organized, text should be typed, not written, and graphs should be computer generated.

Identifying your stock—5 points

• Which firm’s stock are you choosing to research?(This should be the title of your poster)

• What is their ticker symbol?

• Look up your stock on Yahoo! Finance. Type in its ticker symbol at the top of the page to see information for your stock. Answer the following question:

– At what price does the stock currently trade?

For example: CiscoCSCOCisco stock currently trades at $21.22 per share

Click on the “profile” link under the ‘Company’ heading

Background Information—10 points

Use the information in the company link to complete the following: • What type of product or service does the firm

offer? (Between 45-50 words; Do not copy and paste this information. Put it in your own words!)

• Number of employees in this firm; • Where is this firm located?• Who is the Chief Executive Officer and what is

his/her salary?

(Go to next slide for example)

Cisco Systems• Cisco Systems, Inc. designs, manufactures, and

sells Internet protocol (IP) based networking and other products related to the communications and information technology industries worldwide. They offer a variety of hardware and software solutions for businesses, including IP Phones, switches and routers.

• Cisco Systems employs 66,630 people. • Cisco’s head office is located in San Jose,

California• The company’s CEO is John Chambers, who is paid $4.2

million/year.

Background Information, continued

Under the company heading on the sidebar, click “competitors”.

Click on the stock symbols of each competitor for its full name. Answer the following question:

-Who are your firm’s top three competitors?-What are their stock symbols-At what price is each competitor’s stock currently trading?

Competitors

Competitors

Click on the stock symbols of each competitor for its full name. Answer the following question:

-Who are your firm’s top three competitors?-What are their stock symbols-At what price is each competitor’s stock currently trading?

From the sidebar, click on “historical prices”

Set date range:Start date: Jan 4, 2013End date: Mar 1, 2013Select “weekly”;Click get prices.

Data—15 Points

Use the information create to a chart that displays the following information for each Friday for the past 8 weeks:

– Date– Closing Price– Gain/Loss– Percentage change

Be sure to use correct signs (+,-) and symbols (%) where necessary

See next slide for example

Cisco SystemsDate Closing Price Gain/Loss Percentage Change

04/01/2013 20.48 -- --

11/01/2013 20.48 $0 0%

18/01/2013 21.02 +$0.54 2.57%

25/01/2013 21.15 +$0.13 0.62%

01/02/2013 20.83 +$-0.32 -1.51%

08/02/2013 21.16 +$0.33 1.58%

15/02/2013 20.99 +$-0.17 -0.80%

22/02/2013 20.90 -$0.09 -0.43

01/03/2013 20.83 -$0.07 -0.33

Use the information from your table to create a line graph for your stock, demonstrating its performance for the past 8 weeks (closing price every Friday from January 8 - March 1.)

Make sure each axis and all points are labeled

4/1/2013 11/1/2013 18/01/2013 25/01/2013 1/2/2013 8/2/2013 15/02/2013 22/02/2013 1/3/201320

20.2

20.4

20.6

20.8

21

21.2

21.4

Cisco Performance from January 4-March 1, 2013

Closing Price

Time

Clos

ing

Price

Analysis—15 points

Answer the following in no less than 250 and no more than 300 words: Given all you’ve learned in your

research, do you think this stock would make a good

investment? Why or why not?

Include word count at the bottom of this response

Neatness and Organization—5 points

These last 5 marks measure the neatness and organization of your booklet and all information.

Remember to print your work and create a booklet. Color printing is best, but not mandatory.

Wrap-Up

Make sure you have completed all steps of all sections:• Identification: 5 points• Background information: 10 points• Data: 15 points• Analysis: 15 points• Neatness and Organization: 5 points50 points totalThis is your stock market assessment and will count as a double quiz grade.