Financial Performance Evaluation and Investment Analysis of Australian Securities Exchange Listed Co

Learning Outcomes
a) Analyse financial information and evaluate financial performance of a business.
b) Apply time value of money to the valuation of a variety of cash flows, securities and projects leading to sound investment and financing decisions.
c) Analyse risk and return associated with investments. 

Task Summary
Students are expected to utilise publicly available financial market information, evaluate financial performance of selected organisations listed on the Australian Securities Exchange and apply the theory of time value of money, risk and return when making investment decisions.

Students are expected to prepare 10 -15 ppt slides and record a 15 minutes presentation addressing the assessment tasks.

Context
The World Health Organisation (WHO) categorised the coronavirus as a pandemic on the 11th of March 2020. This announcement induced a lot of panic in many countries with panic buying of major household items and medicines escalating. In order to minimise the spread of the virus, airlines have cut down international flights and travel bans have been implemented, with some countries closing borders completely. Economists and governments foresee grave effects on global economies as a result. The financial markets have not been spared. They can be seen as barometers of investor sentiment and give an indicator of how the market participants could be evaluating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on viabilities of companies. It is important for existing and prospective investors to have information on how financial markets have been impacted.

Students will have the opportunity to apply the concept of risk and return with respect to shares, analyse the current financial market situation and evaluate the effect of a market risk factor such as COVID-19 pandemic on return and risk.

Task Instructions
Choose two organisations from different industries currently listed on the Australian Securities Exchange from the list provided. Collect daily share prices and ASX200 index values for the period 30 November 2019 to 31 March 2020 for your selected organisations. Note that this period is the one that has witnessed the emergence of the coronavirus and its rapid spread globally. Economies have already begun to experience negative effects and many industries are predicted to incur heavy losses. Australian industries such as airline, hospitality, tourism, transport and many more have been heavily impacted. Major securities markets worldwide have plunged over this period, the Australian Securities Exchange included.

Complete following tasks for the chosen organisations:
(a) Collect daily share prices using ASX200 index values easily obtainable To search for the information, type in the quote look up section the code for the organisation or the ASX200 code. You then have to search for historical data for the period required.

(b) Calculate the following measures:
(i) geometric mean return (ii) a measure of total risk (iii) systematic risk of the selected shares (iv) two risk-adjusted returns using the metrics already determined.

(c) On the basis of the calculated return and risk measures and two additional important qualitative factors about the chosen organisation, make a recommendation about which of the two organisations you would rather invest in. Explain your reasoning in detail in your presentation.

(d) Analyse the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on your selected organisations and industries their operate in. Include comments on overall financial market situation, the specific industries they operate in, investors confidence and the organisation itself. 

Consider the following as you work on this assignment:
• Search for the information on the share prices for your selected organisations, potential impacts on the industries they operate in and overall situation and atmosphere in the financial markets at the moment.

• Prepare 10-15 slides to be presented in 15 mins (+/- 10%)

• Record the 15 mins video in which the presenter’s face is seen. You are recommended to use Zoom and if not available, you can use any other recording platform.

• The slides and the video are to be submitted via Blackboard together with the EXCEL document with your calculations.

• Remember to cite the sources of information used. Include the list of references at the end of the presentation slides.

• You will be assessed on how well you apply the finance theory concepts learnt in addressing the assessment tasks, on the quality of your analysis and overall presentation.

Submission Instructions
Submit this task via the Assessment link in the main navigation menu in the FINA6000 Managing Finane folder. The Learning Facilitator will provide feedback via the Grade Centre in the LMS portal. Feedback can be viewed in My Grades.