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Corporate Finance Term Project Specifications
1. For this project, you will play the role of a financial analyst. You have been assigned to
do an in-depth analysis of the business and its industry from the perspective of an
independent research analyst.
2. The written research report on the subject companies must:
1. include a cover page with the course title, team members name, date, and title of the
report a minimum;
2. follow by the report content with no longer than 15 pages, although you may
include an appendix no longer than 20 pages;
3. contain only publicly available information;
4. be the original work of the team members;
5. contain (but not limited to) the following sections:
a.Analyze and compare a group of companies in the same industry
b.Executive summary
c.Risk and return analysis
d.Capital structure analysis
e.Dividend policy analysis
f. Reference list
3. The valuation report will address the following issues:
1. The industry and company information can be found in many public resources, like
Value line, Hoover’s, Yahoo Finance, Morningstar, Wall Street Journal, etc. The 10-
k of the firm normally has lots of the information too. 10-k is available on the
website of SEC (http://www.sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/companysearch.html). Also,
don’t forget the librarian Diane. It is time to ask her something.
2. Need to explain the reason for conclusion.
4. Your report must be written using Microsoft Word and submitted as a single
document, that is, one file only. The report needs to be submitted electronically only.
The paper should be presented in a way that makes it visually attractive and appealing.
Remember, you are trying to convey some important conclusions from your analysis of
your company and trying to sell your ideas. The use of color, some relevant images or
pictures, different font sizes for headers, the use of sub-sections, bullets where
appropriate, tables, graphs etc. will make your paper stand out from the crowd, but the
analysis needs to be strong and convincing based on the evidence you present.
Please note any images or pictures that you use also have to be properly referenced.
5. Plagiarism will get into serious trouble. This is the use of the material in books,
magazines, the internet etc., that you try to pass off as your own without proper
attribution. The proper way to use the material of others is to put quotes (“ ” ) around it
and mark it with a reference. There are several different styles of referencing which are
acceptable. Check these out on your own. Place your references together at the end of the
paper.
• Cut and paste from other sources is unacceptable.
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To get an A, it needs a good analysis and presentation plus something unique that sets your paper
apart in some way. Creativity and innovation on top of a solid paper will get you an A. Also,
working above and beyond the minimum requirements can get you an A as well.
If the analysis is good and the presentation is good, you will get a B.
If the analysis is weak and the presentation is not very strong in the use of the Word components
suggested above, you will get a C.
If something is turned in, but directions are significantly ignored, and the analysis is very weak,
you will get a D.
If nothing is turned in, the grade for the project is an F. Plagiarism will also earn an F for the
project so be very careful how you use the work of others. Cutting and pasting material from the
internet without rigorous referencing and quotes showing it is from another source and not your
words will get you into trouble.
