The assignment is compulsory. To reduce our carbon footprint, all assignments are to be submitted electronically through dropboxes in Cloud Deakin (CD). No hardcopy assignment submission is required. The assignment due date is 11:59pm, 16 September (Friday).
Students should be aware of their eligibility for special consideration (see the Deakin University Handbook). Extensions will not be granted unless approved; no extensions are possible after the deadline.
Students must form groups of four to handle this assignment. Group formation is the students' responsibility, and faculty members will not process requests related to group formation. Once groups are formed, students must register their group under “Groups” on CD to facilitate submission.
Late submissions will incur a deduction of 20% of the total marks for each calendar day late, up to five days, after which submissions will not be accepted. No submissions will be accepted after 11:59pm on Wednesday, 21 September. For example, a submission one day late after the deadline will incur a 20% deduction, i.e., for a grade of 16, the student will receive 12. If the work is more than five days late, it will not be accepted.
Each group must submit only one file through CloudDeakin, named with student IDs, e.g., 700374***_600039***_210039***_***_MAF307_Report_2015T1.docx.
Students should keep a copy of their assignment for their records in case of loss. Good luck.
Paper For Above instruction
Assignment Overview and Objectives
This comprehensive assignment in Equities and Investment Analysis aims to simulate real-world investment evaluation processes, emphasizing peer review, performance analysis, data-driven assessment, and practical reporting. It comprises three distinct parts that collectively deepen understanding of investment strategies, market behavior, and stock valuation, culminating in a professional report designed for client advisement.
Part I: Peer Evaluation of Investment Strategies
In the first segment, students will engage in a peer-review exercise resembling professional performance appraisals. Each student will critically evaluate one group member’s investment journals, focusing on the
strategy’s effectiveness, including performance outcomes, risk appetite, trading frequency, stock choices, and the successes and failures encountered. This exercise fosters analytical thinking about investment decision-making and performance measurement. The analysis may encompass comparisons based on two or more journals or an entire series of journals if available. This peer review serves as the foundation for an oral presentation, intended to summarize insights within approximately five minutes (around 800 words).
Part II: Performance Analysis of Selected Shares
The second part involves quantitative assessment of share performance. Students must identify the bestand worst-performing stocks among their group members' portfolios. The task requires investigating whether macroeconomic factors (such as economic growth rates, inflation, or monetary policy), industry lifecycle stages, government or central bank policies, international influences, or firm-specific events contributed to the observed performance disparities. Using daily closing prices over the past two years (retrieved from sources like Yahoo Finance or Google Finance), students will calculate returns, variance, or standard deviation for each stock. These statistical measures aid in determining if the performance differences align with models of market behavior and risk or are attributable to specific external factors. The commentary should evaluate whether historical return data satisfactorily explains the performance gap and support conclusions with empirical evidence (approximately 1000 words).
Part III: Stock Analysis and Market Efficiency Evaluation
The final component involves analyzing two stocks, NXT (NextDC) and VOC (Vocus Communications), based on a televised interview between Ticky Fullerton and fund manager Roger Montgomery. The tasks include:
Determining the share prices for these stocks at the interview date (around 25th April 2013) and their current prices;
Investigating background factors or risk elements leading to any dramatic share price changes, explaining observed price dispersion;
Assessing whether the market encapsulates all available information per the Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH), citing evidence from the share price movements and discussing the implications for market transparency;
Providing investment recommendations (buy, hold, or sell) based on your research to advise clients
effectively.
This analysis (~1200 words) extends understanding of market efficiency, informational influence, and strategic investment positioning, requiring critical synthesis of historical data, market theory, and current valuation metrics.
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