Financial investment is continually changing. Without a solid understanding of the investment world, an investor will be ineffective. What are some of the general challenges in today’s investment environment, and what are the specific challenges that we didn’t see last year? What does an investor need to know in order to be effective? What are some of the tools a manager may use in helping an investor achieve his or her financial goals?

For this discussion, you will download an analyst report of a security of your choosing. If you do not have access to a brokerage account, MSN.com has a free, but limited stock analysis feature. Go to: http://money.msn.com/stocks/

Under “Research a Stock”, type in the symbol for a publically traded company and click “GO”. Then on the left hand side under “Ratings/Analysis”, select “StockScouter Report”.

Either using the information from MSN.com, or your analyst report, address the following questions:

1. What are some of the pros and cons about the stock?
2. What are some of the strengths and weaknesses of the company according to the analysts?
3. What other features of this report do you find unique or interesting?
4. Based on the information provided in this report, would you purchase this security for your portfolio?
5. There are all sorts of investment information available to investors. What do you think is important?