...Having access to the source code is probably the single most significant difference between Linux and Windows. The fact that Linux belongs to the GNU Public License ensures that users (of all sorts) can access (and alter) the code to the very kernel that serves as the foundation of the Linux operating system. You want to peer at the Windows code? Good luck. Unless you are a member of a very select (and elite, to many) group, you will never lay eyes on code making up the Windows operating system. You can look at this from both sides of the fence. Some say giving the public access to the code opens the operating system (and the software that runs on top of it) to malicious developers who will take advantage of any weakness they find. Others say that having full access to the code helps bring about faster improvements and bug fixes to keep those malicious developers from being able to bring the system down. I have, on occasion, dipped into the code of one Linux application or another, and when all was said and done, was happy with the results. Could I have done that with a closed-source Windows application? No. #2: Licensing freedom vs. licensing restrictions Along with access comes the difference between the licenses. I’m sure that every IT professional could go on and on about licensing of PC software. But let’s just look at the key aspect of the licenses (without getting into legalese). With a Linux GPL-licensed operating system, you are free to modify that software and...
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...-1? “ The Aim of the Course To develop and apply technologies for valuing firms and for strategic planning to generate value within the firm. • • Features of the approach: A disciplined approach to valuation: minimizes ad hockery – Built on theoretical and empirical findings from scientific research I ‘_ Marries fundamental analysis and financial statement analysis – Exploits accounting as a system for measuring value added – Exposes good (and “bad”) accounting from a valuation perspective L Financial Statement Analysis and Security Valuation • • • Integrates financial statement analysis with corporate finance Focuses on technologies that can be used in practice – Based on real world examples Adopts activist point of view to investing – The market may be inefficient 0-1 What Will You Learn from the Course Part I Financial statements and valuation Ch. 1-7 • How intrinsic values are calculated • What determines a firm’s value • How businesses are analyzed to assess the value they create • How financial analysis is developed for strategy and planning • The role of financial statements in determining firms’ values • How to pull apart the financial statements to get at the relevant information • How ratio analysis is employed in valuation • How growth is analyzed and valued • How to calculate the P/E and P/B ratio and what they should be • The value of operations • How to make forecasts and develop valuations • How to assess the quality of the...
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...Europe. We focus on the downside of returns and use Value at Risk as our risk measure. We find that value stocks outperform growth stocks in terms of both risks and returns across all time horizons for all three markets. We further conduct cross country analysis. Interestingly, we find that there is some risk and return trade off in short term investment horizon across the three countries. When investment horizon lengthens, Scandinavian market has the best performance in both risks and returns for both value and growth indexes. Keywords: Value, Growth, Risk, Time Horizon 1. INTRODUCTION Value or growth? This is an age old debate in the investment world. Value style stock commonly refers to a stock that is undervalued relative to its fundamentals (i.e. dividends, earnings, sales, etc) and often has a low market to book ratio, a high dividend yield or a low P/E ratio. Growth style stocks are often shares from companies that are expected to grow at a higher than average rate and such stocks often have high market to book ratios, low dividend yields or high P/E ratios. Which one is more profitable? Basu (1977), among others, reports that value portfolios generate higher average returns than growth portfolios. Fama and French (1992) find that value stocks outperform growth stocks after controlling for market risk and size. So, is it a market anomaly or are value stocks riskier than growth stocks? Chen and Zhang (1998) argue that value stocks are riskier because they are often related...
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...Chapter 8 Valuation of Company Shares: Earnings Based Methods The objectives of this chapter are to present the earnings based methods of share valuation, to critically appraise the available empirical evidence, and to provide examples of the problems, issues and limitations of share valuation. Chapter Outline • Overview of the relationship between earnings and value. • Compounding versus Discounting • Long Event Windows and Discounted/Compounded Earnings. • Earnings Capitalisation and P/E Valuations. • Permanent versus Transitory Earnings and Financial Analysis. • Ohlson’s Theory of Value. • Example of Ohlson Style Valuation. Why focus on earnings for valuation? In chapter 7 we argued that cash flow and dividend based valuation models were conceptually and empirically inappropriate. Earnings based valuation methods, in particular Ohlson style valuation models, are shown in this chapter to be conceptually superior to dividend and cash flow valuation approaches. There is growing empirical evidence consistent with our arguments, some of which is reviewed in this chapter. Chapter 9 provides some detailed examples of the Ohlson style earnings valuation methodology and should be studied after digesting the current chapter. Why focus on earnings? The actions and statements of the professional investment community provide compelling anecdotal evidence that earnings are important in the...
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...Chapter 8 Valuation of Company Shares: Earnings Based Methods The objectives of this chapter are to present the earnings based methods of share valuation, to critically appraise the available empirical evidence, and to provide examples of the problems, issues and limitations of share valuation. Chapter Outline • Overview of the relationship between earnings and value. • Compounding versus Discounting • Long Event Windows and Discounted/Compounded Earnings. • Earnings Capitalisation and P/E Valuations. • Permanent versus Transitory Earnings and Financial Analysis. • Ohlson’s Theory of Value. • Example of Ohlson Style Valuation. Why focus on earnings for valuation? In chapter 7 we argued that cash flow and dividend based valuation models were conceptually and empirically inappropriate. Earnings based valuation methods, in particular Ohlson style valuation models, are shown in this chapter to be conceptually superior to dividend and cash flow valuation approaches. There is growing empirical evidence consistent with our arguments, some of which is reviewed in this chapter. Chapter 9 provides some detailed examples of the Ohlson style earnings valuation methodology and should be studied after digesting the current chapter. Why focus on earnings? The actions and statements of the professional investment community provide compelling anecdotal evidence that earnings are important in the...
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...long hours, my priority is to make sure the work is competently completed and client/employers are happy. I’ve worked with a diverse set of people and get along with them all, I’m a team player. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LE8HiHZcgEE - finished at 32:31. * Bloomberg has 4 windows when you log in, all independent of each other * Can add favourites on the right hand side of Bloomberg * Uses auto complete for searching * Help button/page explains terms and gives definitions * Live help – 24/7 with knowledgeable people. Uses Bloomberg explain address. Rescourses to help yourself are available. * Description page is very important, links to other tools. Pricing info, dividends etc. * Menu Key to take you back to previous page. * Historical pricing (HP) – amber is always something that can be edited. Can be exported to excel. * Diff between static (raw data can be taking out without being protected) and dynamic data. There’s a way to pull Bloomberg data in excel without being in Bloomberg. * Financial analysis page. (equity analysis )Useful if taking accounting. For public companies. Market cap, revenue. For fundamental analysis, see what makes a company tick. Can be transported to excel * Only work if on same computer. If values are formula, just copy and paste the info in other cells and there will be no formulas. - if I want to save on thumb drive. * Weighed ave cost of captial – WACC. HELP...
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...investors. One of my clients seeks to invest in Microsoft Corporation. Microsoft is a multinational Corporation based in America. It specializes in technology products. The headquarters for Microsoft are in Washington a place known as Redmond. This Company manufactures, develops, licenses, sells and supports consumer electronics, computer software, services and personal computers. Bill Gates and Paul Allen initiated this Company way back in 1975. My client wishes to invest in Microsoft. Analyzing Microsoft stock and financial performance is critical to allow me advice my client appropriately. 2.0 An Overview of Microsoft Corporation Microsoft is best known for its software products such as the line of operating systems, Microsoft Windows, Internet Explorer, Microsoft Office suite, Skype and Edge web browsers. Microsoft is the world’s largest software producer or maker by revenue. Microsoft is one of the most valuable companies in the world (MSFT: Summary for Microsoft Corporation- Yahoo! Finance). Microsoft is a worldwide Company traded as NASDAQ component. It operates in the computer software and hardware industry. The chairperson of Microsoft Corporation is John W. Thompson. Bill Gates is the Founder and Technology Advisor. Brad Smith is the President and Satya Nadella the CEO (Microsoft – Official Home Page). As of 2015, Microsoft had a total revenue of US$ 93.58 billion, a net income of...
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...eurojournals.com/finance.htm Fundamental Analysis Strategy and the Prediction of Stock Returns Jaouida Elleuch* Faculty of Economics and management sciences (FSEG), University of Sfax, Tunisia E-mail: Elleuchj@yahoo.fr Abstract This paper examines whether a simple fundamental analysis strategy based on historical accounting information can predict stock returns. The paper’s goal is to show that simple screens based on historical financial signals can shift the distribution of returns earned by an investor by separating eventual winners stocks from losers. Results show that historical accounting signals can be used to improve the entire distribution of future returns earned by an investor. In fact, despite the overall down activity of the market over the sample period chosen, results reveal that fundamental accounting signals can be used to discriminate from an overall sample generating future negative returns of -0,116 a winner portfolio that provide positive future return of 0,019 from a loser one generating a negative return of -0,229. The over-performance of the winner portfolio seems to be attributable to the ability of the fundamental signals to predict future earnings. In fact, results show that fundamental signals have a positive and significant correlation with future earnings performance and that the winner portfolio have a future earning’s realisation (0,100) that outperforms that of the loser portfolio (-0,012). Keywords: Fundamental Analysis, Market Efficiency, Stock...
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...prices do not move sufficiently, it will be difficult to make money from trading them. Thus, the recent fluctuations in the share market have highlighted the fact that there are risks involved with investing money and that finding the right investment strategy is a crucial step in investing. Investors today have more investment options than were available to the average investor just a few decades ago. While having multiple options is usually a good thing, too many options can cause confusion and system overload and lead many people to avoid making decisions about their investment strategies. Most strategies used to invest in the share market fall into three general categories including technical analysis, fundamental analysis, or a buy-and-hold strategy. The fundamental analysis approach is primarily concerned with value; it examines factors that determine a company's expected future earnings and dividends as well as the continued dependability of those earnings and dividends (McDonald 2007, 100). The investor who uses technical analysis attempts to predict the future price of a stock or the future direction of the market based on past price and trading volume changes (Subramaniam 2010, 46). The buy-and-hold approach is the benchmark against which any other approaches to market investing should be measured. This strategy provides the...
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...Human Behavior and the Efficiency of the Financial System by Robert J. Shiller* Abstract Recent literature in empirical finance is surveyed in its relation to underlying behavioral principles, principles which come primarily from psychology, sociology and anthropology. The behavioral principles discussed are: prospect theory, regret and cognitive dissonance, anchoring, mental compartments, overconfidence, over- and underreaction, representativeness heuristic, the disjunction effect, gambling behavior and speculation, perceived irrelevance of history, magical thinking, quasimagical thinking, attention anomalies, the availability heuristic, culture and social contagion, and global culture. Theories of human behavior from psychology, sociology, and anthropology have helped motivate much recent empirical research on the behavior of financial markets. In this paper I will survey both some of the most significant theories (for empirical finance) in these other social sciences and the empirical finance literature itself. Particular attention will be paid to the implications of these theories for the efficient markets hypothesis in finance. This is the hypothesis that financial prices efficiently incorporate all public information and that prices can be regarded as optimal estimates of true investment value at all times. The efficient markets hypothesis in turn is based on more primitive notions that people behave rationally, or accurately maximize expected utility, and are able...
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...INVESTMENT VALUATION: SECOND EDITION Chapter 1: Introduction to Valuation Chapter 2: Approaches to Valuation Chapter 3: Understanding Financial Statements Chapter 4: The Basics of Risk Chapter 5: Option Pricing Theory and Models Chapter 6: Market Efficiency: Theory and Models Chapter 7: Riskless Rates and Risk Premiums Chapter 8: Estimating Risk Parameters and Costs of Financing Chapter 9: Measuring Earnings Chapter 10: From Earnings to Cash Flows Chapter 11: Estimating Growth Chapter 12: Closure in Valuation: Estimating Terminal Value Chapter 13: Dividend Discount Models Chapter 14: Free Cashflow to Equity Models Chapter 15: Firm Valuation: Cost of Capital and APV Approaches Chapter 16: Estimating Equity Value Per Share Chapter 17: Fundamental Principles of Relative Valuation Chapter 18: Earnings Multiples Chapter 19: Book Value Multiples Chapter 20: Revenue and Sector-Specific Multiples 3 16 37 81 121 152 211 246 311 341 373 425 450 487 533 593 637 659 718 760 Chapter 21: Valuing Financial Service Firms Chapter 22: Valuing Firms with Negative Earnings Chapter 23: Valuing Young and Start-up Firms Chapter 24: Valuing Private Firms Chapter 25: Acquisitions and Takeovers Chapter 26: Valuing Real Estate Chapter 27: Valuing Other Assets Chapter 28: The Option to Delay and Valuation Implications Chapter 29: The Option to Expand and Abandon: Valuation Implications Chapter 30: Valuing Equity in Distressed Firms Chapter 31: Value Enhancement: A Discounted Cashflow Framework Chapter...
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...Is Skype worth $8.5 billion? An exercise in valuing young, growth companies Posted by Aswath Damodaran Wednesday, May 18, 2011 Last week, Microsoft announced that it would buy Skype for $8.5 billion. The reaction was fast, furious and very predictable. First, there was the search for reasons for the deal and technology mavens listed a few. Second, there was the reaction from investors and analysts, which was generally not very positive. Third, it was noted that Bill Gates, the face of Microsoft for so long, was strongly in favor of the deal (thus providing cover for Steve Ballmer). Ultimately, though, the discussion of the deal was lacking in one key respect: Is Skype worth $8.5 billion to Microsoft? A few of the analysts noted that the price paid was roughly ten times Skype's revenues in 2010, an undoubtedly rich price, but by itself proving nothing. After all, if you had been able to buy into Google at ten times revenues in 2003, you would be rich now. A great deal of attention was paid to whether Skype was the right company for Microsoft to buy and the strategic/synergistic fit of the two companies. It has always been my contention with acquisitions that it is not the strategic fit or synergistic stories that make the difference between a good deal and a bad one, but whether you buy a company at the right price. Put in more direct terms, buying a company that is a poor strategic fit at a low price is vastly preferable to buying a company that fits like a glove at the wrong...
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...comparable (or comp) same-store-sales in Q1 2013. This is the first such decline in 6 quarters of Walmart reporting comp increases. Based on a recent report published by Bloomberg, it appears Wal-Mart is struggling to keep its stores stocked with items that consumers are seeking. As seen in the below chart, Walmart’s tock, WMT, has been lagging behind its main competitors, Costco (COST) and Target (TGT). Given the weakness in global economies, and cautious consumer spending in the U.S. (WMT's biggest market), investors might be wondering whether Walmart stock is a good buy, sell or hold. Does WMT stock still make sense as a good investment or should investors seek better opportunities somewhere else? Let's analyze some of the valuation, fundamental and technical variables to better determine whether Walmart stock is a good buy, sell...
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...The company I pick from S&P 500 is Google Inc., which is a multinational corporation specializing in internet-related service and products. Google has been estimated to be a rapidly growing global technology leader focused on improving the way people connect with information, and its trading stock price is remained really high and still on the rise. The expected sales are given by Capital IQ from year 2014 to year 2018, and their values are listed below in the table. By calculating the average growth rate of sales over next five years, which is 12.8%, and have it compared with the one from the previous three years, which is 25.8%, it can be concluded that the projected sales value given by Capital IQ are reasonable. The average growth rate for the next five years represents a stable rate for a longer term, which should be lower than the short-term one when seeing the future performance of the company in a long-run view (Appendix A). Table1. Expected Cash Flows (in millions) | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | Sales | 68,176 | 78,377 | 88,614 | 98,769 | 109,330 | The estimated EBITDA to Sales ratio is gained by calculating the average value of EBITDA margins from year 2011 to year 2013, which is 33.3%. Because the sales margins are acquired by Capital IQ from the market data as reliable source, we can use the average of the previous three years’ EBITDA margins as a constant multiple to project the future five years’ EBITDA. By assuming a constant EBITDA/Sales...
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...Memorandum TO: FROM: DATE: September, 27 2013 RE: One-Page Memo on JetBlue Case Study The purpose of this memorandum is to discuss the JetBlue case study, and review my answers to the specified questions. I will elaborate as to which price I believe JetBlue should choose for their initial public offering (IPO), and why JetBlue should choose that price. The first step in determining JetBlue’s IPO price is analyzing specific ratios of publicly traded competitors in JetBlue’s industry. I analyzed the Price-to-Earnings multiples, Cash Flow multiples, Total Assets multiples, and the Revenue multiples of the direct competitors of JetBlue. JetBlue’s direct competitors include; AirTran, Alaska Air, American West, MidWest, and Southwest. JetBlue’s relative stock prices are as follows: |JetBlue's Stock Prices Implied By Different Multiples | |Airline |P/E Multiple |CF Multiple |TA Multiple |Revenue Multiple | |AirTran |$36.41 |$23.71 |$45.20 |$9.24 | |Alaska Air |$47.23 |$27.64 |$30.69 |$8.92 | |American West |$29.04 |$30.82 |$26.24 |$8.39 | |MidWest |-$15.60 |-$11.42 |$39...
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