Stock Journal
This is the first of three stock journal assignments that you will complete during this course. For this assignment, two templates have been provided for your use. In one template, you will enter your chosen companies, the share prices, and the number of shares you will be purchasing given your budget of $25K. The other template is where you will write your rationale/summary. Please download both templates, and complete, save, then upload both templates to Blackboard when submitting your work.
Scenario
Capital markets and the ability to raise funds for corporate uses are essential to the U.S. economic system. For this assignment, imagine that you have $25,000 to invest in U.S. companies. You are buying used stock. The company got the money when it issued the stock originally. You will be buying it from an existing owner.
You are investing, or buying, the stock because you believe the company will make money and pay you a dividend in cash. Each share of stock that you buy entitles you to any dividend declared and a vote at the annual stockholders’ meeting.
The stock also allows you the ability to earn your money back by selling the stock. Of course, investing in stocks is risky and there is the possibility that the stock you buy will be worth less when you want your money back. The company is not obligated to give you any of your money back. You will only get your money back if another investor wants to buy your stock.
Instructions
Using the abovescenario and the resources listed below, complete the following directions foryour Week 3 Stock Journal entry:
Select three US companies that are publicly traded usingyour knowledge and experience and make sure you are practicing good diversification. Jim Cramer, Money Manager, on CNBC, plays a game at the end of his show called “Am I Diversified.” Check out the short clip, Am I Diversified – Mad Money [Video], to get a sense of industry diversification.
Ideas for Sources of Information: There are many ways to find such companies and the stock prices, including the New York Stock Exchange, Google Finance, NASDAQ, and Yahoo! Finance.
Describe how you will divide $25,000 across the three companies (e.g. $10,000 in Company 1, $10,000 in Company 2, and $5,000 in Company 3).
You decide the amount you are investing in each company. You do not have to provide any analysis to justify your decisions.
Provide a reason for picking each company.
For example, you might invest in Ford because that company gets a lot of your money and you hear that Ford is doing well, and will continue to do well.
Identify the number of shares you are buying, and the price of the shares you are buying for each company.
Once you decide the companies and the amount for each company, determine how many shares you can buy. For example, if Company 1 is selling for $42.16, then you may buy $10,000/$42.16, or 237.19 shares. But you cannot buy a part of a share, so you decide to buy either 237 or 238. In this example, you buy 237 shares at $42.16 per share, investing $9,991.92. You wont be able to buy exactly $10,000, or $5,000, or $25,000, but it will be relatively close.
Use at least two quality references. Consider using the sources of information ideas above and/or searching and locating resources from the Strayer University Library. Note: Wikipedia and other websites do not qualify as academic resources.
Submit two documents for your journal assignment submission byuploading them to the assignmentsubmission area:
Completed Excel template.
Completed Word document template with your rationale.
Sheet1
Student Name:
Week 3 Week 8 Week 10
Column A: (3) U.S. Companies Column B: Investment ($25K) Column C: Share Price (Week 3) # of Shares (Column D) Column E: Share Price (Week 8) # of Shares Week 3 and 8 Change Column H: Dollar Value Change Column I: Share Price (Week 10) # of Shares Week 3 and 10 Change Column L: Dollar Value Change
1) ERROR:#DIV/0! ERROR:#DIV/0! $0 ERROR:#DIV/0! ERROR:#DIV/0! $0 ERROR:#DIV/0!
2) ERROR:#DIV/0! ERROR:#DIV/0! $0 ERROR:#DIV/0! ERROR:#DIV/0! $0 ERROR:#DIV/0!
3) ERROR:#DIV/0! ERROR:#DIV/0! $0 ERROR:#DIV/0! ERROR:#DIV/0! $0 ERROR:#DIV/0!
Total Investment ERROR:#DIV/0! ERROR:#DIV/0! ERROR:#DIV/0! ERROR:#DIV/0!
Instructions:
Week 3
1. Under Column (A), enter the 3 U.S. Companies you chose.
2. Under Column (B), enter the amount out of the $25,000 you would like to invest in each company.
3. Under Column (C), enter the share price for each of your chosen companies.
4. The # of shares will automatically populate in Column (D).
5. Using the Word document template provided, please discuss why you chose the 3 companies you chose.
Week 8
1. Enter the updated share price in Column (E).
2. The number of new shares that can be purchased will populate in Column (F).
3. The difference in the new number of shares you can purchase for your initial investment will populate in Column (G).
2. The change in the dollar value of your investment will populate in Column (H).
3. Using the Word document template provided, please discuss any gains or losses experienced. Did you make or lose money? Which stocks changed in value?
Week 10
1. Enter the updated share price in Column (I).
2. The number of new shares that can be purchased will populate in Column (J).
3. The difference in the new number of shares you can purchase for your initial investment will populate in Column (K).
2. The change in the dollar value will populate in Column (L).
3. Using the Word document template provided, please discuss any gains or losses experienced. Did you make or lose money? Which stocks changed in value? ***This is a template. Please type over/delete all items in red prior to submitting your assignment.
Week XX (Enter Week) Stock Journal
By Type Your Name Here
FIN100: Principles of Finance
Enter the Name of Your Instructor Here
Type the Date Here (ex. February 10, 2020)
Week XX (Enter Week) Stock Journal
Week 3 Instructions: You do not have to provide any analysis to justify your decisions. You must only provide some reason for picking that company. For example, you might invest in Ford because that company gets a lot of your money and you hear that Ford is doing well, and will continue to do well. Insert your rationale here. One paragraph is more than adequate to provide a reason why you have selected the 3 companies you have chosen.
Week 8 Instructions: Evaluate the results of your current investment. Are you happy with the result and the trend? Are you upset because your investment is worth less than $25,000. Feel free to speculate / guess at why you believe the stock increased, decreased, or remained static. Insert your update here. One paragraph is more than adequate to provide and update concerning the 3 companies you have chosen.
Week 10 Instructions: Provide your final opinion / assessment of your investments.Did you make money or lose money? Discuss your results and, based on hindsight, describe what you would do differently. Discuss what you learned from this assignment.Do you believe this assignment will help you in the future in any way? Insert your update here. One paragraph is more than adequate to provide and update concerning the 3 companies you have chosen.
*Use black, size 12, Times New Roman, Arial, Courier, or Calibri fonts. Double-space your paragraph. See the formatting instructions under the Strayer Writing Standards link in the Course Shell.
*AFTER COMPLETING YOUR WORK, DELETE ALL ITEMS IN RED. Your font must be black.
Sources
Sample formatting for an online source:
1. Anya Kamenetz. July 10, 2015. The Writing Assignment That Changes Lives. https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2015/07/10/419202925/the-writing-assignment-that-changes-lives
You found the share prices for your three companies on websites. Please indicate where you found them here.
1. Website 1
2. Website 2
3. Website 3
PAGE
2
