Finance

Select an ongoing or upcoming ICO or IEO on which to write an analyst report. Also, use CoinGecko, CryptoSlate, ICObench, ICOdrops, ICOmarks, ICOstamp, ICOrating and/or any other ranking sites and internet resources to select one that is suitable for a comparative analysis as follows: • The ongoing or upcoming ICO or IEO should NOT have been completed when you write your report; • The completed ICO or IEO should have been completed by 1 December 2019, or before, and have been sufficiently successful that its market cap is at least $5 million, the coin or token is ranked, and it has been traded on at least one reputable exchange for at least 1 year; • Select the two ICO/IEOs to be as similar as possible, such as both being in the same category (e.g. education, gaming, DeFi), both being issued on the same platform and/or on the same exchange (for IEOs). If you choose to compare an ICO with an IEO then your report must discuss this difference as one of the success factors. • The rationale for comparing the two ICOs/IEOs is to infer the likely performance of the ongoing ICO/IEO from the observed performance of the completed one and the factors that have influenced this. WHAT DATA? 1. Obtain as much qualitative data as possible for both ICO/IEOs, for instance (note – not all these features will necessarily apply): o White paper or Lite paper o Marketing materials o Analysts ratings o Social media hype (e.g. on Telegram, Reddit, Google or Twitter) o Any other news, data or information relevant for determining the ICO/IEO success Record a URL list of web pages where the information was obtained so that the reader is able to follow links to these data when you write your report. 2. Obtain as much quantitative data on both ICO/IEOs as you can, such as: o Soft and hard cap targets o Initial token prices during pre-ICO, and prices during official ICO o Total amount raised, during pre-ICO and during the official ICO. These amounts may be in fiat and/or crypto currencies. 3. Download at least 1 year of daily historical price data of the completed ICO. TASKS: Use your research to write a report using the structure described below which is informed by an Excel spreadsheet containing the data described above and the analysis described below. Structure of the Report: • Executive Summary [10%]: Highlight the key points in this report • Business Analysis [20%]: Compare and contrast the qualitative features of the two ICO/IEOs using the information described in point 1 above • Financial Analysis [20%]: Report the quantitative data described in point 2 above, in a suitable tabular format and compare the properties of these data for the two ICO/IEOs • Performance Analysis [20%]: Use the historical data described in point 3 to analyse the performance of the completed ICO/IEO, using the Sharpe ratio and any other performance metrics you wish. Assume the risk-free rate is zero. • Risk Analysis [20%]: Discuss the factors which may have influenced the performance analysis of the completed ICO/IEO. One or more of these factors could be relevant: (i) industry-wide factors specific to the project; and/or (ii) economic factors at the times of the ICO/IEO; and/or (iii) factors such as operational risks that are specific to the exchange(s) where the coin or token trades; • Analyst Recommendation [10%]: Bring all the information in your report together to conclude with a discussion about the likely success of the project underpinning the ongoing or upcoming ICO or IEO (over a short/medium horizon only) and a recommendation regarding the coin or token when it is released, viz.: strong buy, buy, watch, sell, or strong sell.

Question 1  Go to the Industry Center in Yahoo Finance! Use the URL https://finance.yahoo.com/industries  Choose an industry and a specific company within this industry. (Not IBM)  Briefly introduce the company you chose, including name, address, main products, stock price, volume, economic performance, etc. The purpose of doing it is to inform me of what kind of company you chose.  Report the descriptive statistics of the adjusted prices of the company, including Mean, SE, Median, Skewness, Kurtosis, Min, Max, Count, etc. (Download monthly data, five years)  Draw Line Chart (Time Series) and Histogram of you data.  Question 2  Estimate the single-index model and explain the coefficients  o Download weekly data, two years.  o Calculate the rate of return on both the stock you chose and S&P500  o Report and explain R-square and standard error  o Report and explain the economic meaning of the coefficients ? and ?  o Report and explain t-stat and p-value of the coefficients ? and ?  o Draw residual plot and line fit plot  2  Question 3  Using the Historical Prices option, you are required to download stock data of Amazon (AMZN) and Starbucks (SBUX).  o Monthly data, from Jan 1st, 2010 to Jan 1st, 2018. There are 96 observation.  o We only make use of the Adj Close price.  o Assume that the return on risk-free asset is the return on S&P 500.  Using these data to allocate your money across these two risky assets.  o That is, you are required to solve for wAMZN and wSBUX .

The financial statements tell a story about the financial health of a business at a given point in time. The purpose of this is to apply ratio analysis to assess financial health of a publicly held corporation. Use the financial statements identified in the module four case to compute three ratios, one for each of the three following categories Liquidity (solvency), debt service, and profitability. Comment on the ratios by answering the following questions. Go to IBIS, locate a U.S. specialty industry report, which you feel is appropriate for the company you are analyzing. Use the statistics tab to view the ratios. Name the company and show the computation of the three ratios. (2 to 3 sentences) Comment on the purpose and information conveyed by each ratio. (2 to 3 sentences) What did you learn about the company by reviewing the three ratios? (2 to 3 sentences) What is your conclusion about liquidity, debt, and profitability for this company? (2 to 3 sentences) How successful is the company relative to the industry average and leaders in its industry? Indicate the industry and specialty industry report used for comparison. Write two paragraphs or more. Include ratios found in the IBIS database to support your conclusion.

Answer the following questions in short-answer essay format. Each short-answer essay must address all relevant parts of each question and include examples where appropriate. Make sure to cite any references you use. Proper citation format for a reference includes the name of the author(s), the title of the work, the date of the publication, and the page number. 1. Alan insures his residence on a standard homeowner’s policy. He comes home from work one day and finds that a burglar has broken in and stolen some of his possessions. He immediately contacts his police and his insurance company to report the claim.  a. List and explain the six steps the claims adjuster will take to handle this claim. Be sure to discuss why each of the steps is important. b. Assume the claims adjuster for Alan’s insurance company does not feel that Alan is entitled to any money after a brief review of his initial report of the loss. She issues a denial letter stating that the company is not going to pay anything for his claim. Do you feel the adjuster has engaged in good faith claim handling practices? Explain why or why not. 2. Poor Alan! After his claim is settled, he invites a few close friends over for dinner. As his guests are leaving for the evening, one of them trips and falls down the stairs leading to the sidewalk. It does not appear that the person is injured too badly but, just to be safe, Alan takes his guest to the emergency room. She is released to go home later that night so things appear to be just fine. Two days later, Alan gets a call from the law firm representing his injured guest, and the attorney states that they will be filing a claim seeking both special and general damages.  a. Define special damages and general damages and give an example of both special and general damages. b. Do you think the insurance company will set up a reserve for this loss? Why or why not? c. Why is it important for the claims representative to contact the insured or injured party shortly after being notified of a loss? 3. Alan’s homeowner policy provides coverage for his contents on a replacement cost basis. In your mind, which is better: coverage based on replacement cost or actual cash value (ACV)? Please explain the rationale for your answer. 4. One of the challenging tasks facing claims adjusters is establishing reserves for losses that have occurred.  a. Define the term reserve b. Do you feel it is more difficult to establish a reserve for property losses or liability losses? Be sure to discuss the reasons for your answer.

Black Swans in investing in emerging markets (data provided, you are required to use STATA to do the empirical coursework)   In writing your essay: • You have to provide motivation for the chosen topic and clearly express your objectives in the context of investment decisions in emerging markets. • You have to be able to collect, present, and analyse data relevant for the issues you consider. In other words, your essay should be an empirical work (literature survey are not permitted). • The permitted source of market data is Thomson Reuters Datastream. • At least two-thirds of the essay should be devoted to your results and their analysis. • Your essay should provide evidence of extensive reading on a topic and ability to provide a focused and analytical discussion of the relevant issues. • The essay should have a clear, well-organised structure. You should show an ability to relate evidence to theory. • The essay must be carefully and accurately referenced.   Important: Please upload your data and work files (e.g., Excel and Stata files including Stata dta and do file). The information submitted should be sufficient to replicate your results!   Important: the above information is the university official requirement, and the following are my instructions: I intend to imitate a similar structure to the given examples, and analyse the country group ‘The Next Eleven’ (known also by the numeronym N-11). I have already provided the data needed for this essay. The excel file includes the MSCI indices for only ten N-11 countries (except Iran as it’s not included into the MSCI index), and also the MSCI Emerging Markets index. I intend to compare the ten countries with the average levels of the emerging markets. This can allow an investigation on whether these N-11 countries can have the potential capacity to become as important globally as the BRICs. However, the student sample given is not perfect. Please do pay much attention to the motivation/contribution of this essay and avoid mechanically duplicate the materials given. Please remember to record the original data dta file and do file as these documents are required to submit as well.   (What Is Next Eleven? The Next Eleven, also known as N-11, are the eleven countries that are poised to become the biggest economies in the world in the 21st century, after the BRIC countries. The N-11 was chosen by Goldman Sachs Group, Inc in a 2005 paper exploring the potential of BRIC and the N-11. They are – Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, Turkey and Vietnam.)

Paper must include the following topics. US Monetary Policy, starting with Alexander Hamilton, the formation of the Federal Reserve, the Fed’s mandate and the tools it employs to meet that mandate under normal circumstances, then extraordinary actions it took after 9/11, the 2008 financial crisis, and how it is currently dealing with the effects of COVID on the economy.

PART 1   This part should be approximately 2200 words.   Part 1-A   Task of the Assessment   This task relates to another one of the underlying principal functions of finance that is allocating funds to appropriate projects which are value enhancing. In this assignment we look at this issue from the company’s perspective and thus this involves analysing a problem that faces corporate treasurers. First, the appropriate weighted average cost of capital for the project needs to be determined, which depends on the capital structure of the firm and the risk of the project amongst other factors. Secondly, capital budgeting needs to be implemented to decide whether the project should be implemented as well an assessment of the risks and benefits from undertaking the project via sensitivity analysis and critical evaluation of the methods implemented. The task should take the form of a report with a conclusion that summarises your key recommendations to managers.   Assignment Instructions   Choose any two companies in different business sectors (e.g. different GICS sub-industries) that have a primary listing on in the UK on the London Stock Exchange (either the Main Market or the Alternative Investment Market (AIM)). Company accounts need to be in British Pounds. Each company must have: • Company market capitalization between £10,000,000 and £5,000,000,000 • Total debt of more than £500,000 • Total debt divided by total firm value between 5% and 95% • Been trading on the Stock Exchange for a minimum of two years with financial data available   Neither company should be in the financial sector; name them respectively Company A and Company B. Company A wishes to diversify its activities, and has identified a project with 5- year maturity in the business sector of Company B. It decides to use Company B as a comparison company for calculating the appropriate Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC) with which to undertake the NPV evaluation of this project.   Please note that for simplicity your best estimate of the WACC should be based on: Gearing ratio calculated as total debt divided by total firm value (total debt plus total equity). A risk-free rate of 1.1% and a market equity premium of 5.8%.   1)    Provide a best estimate for the WACC that Company A should apply to the new project. Discuss precisely how this WACC value is calculated. This should incorporate information from part 1), follow the guidance above and include additional information as appropriate.               Part 1-B   In order for Company A to undertake this project, it is necessary to purchase a new piece of machinery immediately at a cost of £2,000,000. It is anticipated that this will have a resale value of £200,000 at the end of year 5. For tax purposes, capital allowances are calculated on a straight-line basis.   The firm is already committed to spending £50,000 on developing this new product over the next year and will spend an additional £25,000 on adapting the product to market requirements if the project goes ahead. There is a fee of £15,000 to undertake the project evaluation.   It has been estimated that sales will be 50,000 items of the new product in year 1. You expect items to sell at £20 per item in nominal terms. The nominal variable costs of production will be £10 per item in year 1. The project will lead to an increase in the firm’s fixed costs of £200,000 but the toy division will be allocated with £300,000 of fixed costs. The project is expected to increase dividend payments by £75,000.   Assume that this project a negligible amount of working capital will be held. Assume that sales will grow from year 1 to year 3 at 30% per annum but will decline by 10% in year 4 and year 5. The firm is expected to sell the machinery at the end of year 5 rather than continue production into year 6. Inflation is expected to be 5% per annum and will impact all revenues and costs.   2) Estimate the NPV of the project that Company A will undertake. Conduct sensitivity analysis on key inputs into the NPV decision making process. Justify clearly which variables are crucial for determining whether the project should be implemented or not. Provide a final recommendation to management on the viability of the project.     PART 2   1.What stylised features of financial data cannot be explained using linear time series models? [10 marks]   2. Which of these stylised features could be modelled using a GARCH (1,1) process? [10 marks]   3. Why, in recent empirical research, have researchers preferred GARCH (1,1) models to pure ARCH(p)? [10 marks]   4. Describe two extensions to the original GARCH model. What additional characteristics of financial data might they be able to capture? [20 marks]     b) Suppose that a research wanted to test the null hypothesis that ??1 + ?? = 1 in this equation. Explain how this might be achieved within the maximum likelihood framework. [10 marks]   c) Suppose now that the researcher had estimated the above GARCH model for a series of returns on a stock index and obtained the following parameter estimates: ???= 0.0023, ???0 = 0.0172, ??? = 4 0.9811, ???1 = 0.1251. If the research has data available up to and including time T, write down a set of equations in  2 ??????  their lagged values, which could be employed to produce one-, two- and three-step-ahead forecasts for the conditional variance of ??t. [15 marks]   d) Suppose the coefficients estimate of for this model is 0.98 instead. By reconsidering the forecast expressions, you derived in part C) explain that would happen to the forecasts in this case. [15 marks]

1.      If you had started your own business and were contemplating expansion, would you choose to finance your expansion with debt or equity? Justify and defend your choice with sound reasoning. Your answer should be in your own words.   2.     When using the Internal Rate of Return method to assess capital projects, what is a common pitfall that might occur if an organization consistently chooses projects with the highest IRR? Your response should be in your own words.   3.     What are the three basic steps to creating a set of projected financial statements? Why is this process not as simple as it sounds? Your answer should be in your own words. 4.     How does a firm go about determining how much funds will be needed to achieve their strategic plan? 5.     How do privately owned firms and small businesses go about estimating their weighted average cost of capital? Your response should be in your own words. 6.     What are the three elements of the Weighted Average Cost of Capital formula? Which of the elements are impacted by taxes? Your answer should be in your own words. 7.     Outline the basic formula for the Weighted Average Cost of Capital and explain how it is used in the capital budgeting process. Your answer should be in your own words. 8.     What are the key strengths and weaknesses of the Net Present Value method of assessing capital projects? Your answer should be in your own words. 9.     What are the five key ways free cash flow is used? How does this relate to an organization s financial plan? 10.  What is sensitivity analysis and what role does it play in the capital budgeting process? Your answer should be in your own words.

Write a 750 to 1000 word paper. In your paper include the following: ·         Complete questions A through J for the Mini Case involving Shrieves Casting Company on pages 495 & 496. Please complete the paper in actual paper format including an introduction paragraph, a clearly labeled paragraph for each question (A, B, C, etc.), a conclusion paragraph, and a references page. Include a title page and 3-5 references.  Only one reference may be from the internet (not Wikipedia).  The other references must be from the Grantham University online library.  Please adhere to the Concise Guide to APA Style when writing and submitting assignments and papers. . https://ebooks.cenreader.com/#!/reader/d75868ef-fb3c-45c3-9365-7b65ba59c381/page/1ba4719db50d2d5d24d726c46c0437f8

An investor has $10m to invest and has the following options: 1) depositing it in a US bank account paying 3% annually, or 2) depositing it in a German bank, where the annual rate of interest is only 2%. Assume that today the current spot exchange rate for the Euro is given as $1.2750, while the 1-year Dollar-Euro forward rate is posted as 1.2995. a. Based on your knowledge of the relationship between interest rate differentials and the current dollar-euro forward premium or discount, in which country should the investor deposit her money? why? b. If you had the power to adjust the German interest rate, with all else constant, what rate would you establish, such that the investor is totally indifferent between depositing in either countries? Show your work and the logic behind it. b. If you had the power to adjust the German interest rate, with all else constant, what rate would you establish, such that the investor is totally indifferent between depositing in either countries? Show your work and the logic behind it.