Task

You should select a company listed on the stock exchange as the context for your investigation, analysis and discussion. You will be required to use JCU Library databases such as datanalysis (Morningstar) to find real data such as on dividends, financial leverage and peer comparisons.

Imagine you are a financial analyst for an investment firm writing an overview of a company. To do this you want to consider the company’s current activities, 

what its core business is and what operational risks it has identified. 

You should critically review the firm’s activities and growth potential in its sector. 

You should also consider the current stock price using a valuation model (such as the dividend growth model or CAPM). 

Fully investigate the current level of financial leverage, over the last five years and versus its competitors / similar firms.

Your report will have an introduction, sections detailing answers to each issue and a concluding discussion to synthesise your analysis. Approximate length is 2 pages plus appendices.

Scenario

Your first graduate job is as a financial analyst for an investment firm. On your first day you have been asked to write an overview of a publicly listed Australian company.

In your overview you should include the following:

1.Analyse the company's financial and market performance (what its core business is and what operational risks it has identified.)

2 Discuss the firm's market value (Calculate the growth rate for dividends/ earning per share/ revenues. Select a rate you think reflects the company potential, and use it and the most recent dividend to estimate intrinsic value assuming a modest 7%-8% return.) (You should also consider the current stock price using a valuation model such as the dividend growth model or CAPM.

3 Review the risk of the company and compare it to the sector and the market 

4 Critically analyse the firm's capital structure (Fully investigate the current level of financial leverage, over the last five years and versus its competitors / similar firms.).

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