Please read and ensure you can handle the work before shaking hands.

Assignment

Search business periodicals for an interesting article about a specific firm that relates to corporate finance concepts covered this semester. The article should address a specific event at the firm, such as a merger or capital structure change. Students must be able to state the date of the specific change.

• Summarize the key points of the article in one typed page or less.
• Develop a profile of the firm discussed in your article, including stock price graphs, leverage and profitability history, and competitive position.
• Write an essay which relates the issues in the article to specific topics studied in Corporate finance or to value creation in general.

Additional outside sources may also be included if relevant and helpful. The article should be fairly recent, such as from the past year. Expect to read a number of articles as you attempt to select the one that you use for this project.

Keep in mind: Major articles that focus on a specific company event will work best.

Grading Criteria

Projects will be graded based on the following criteria:

Choice of article (10%)

Is there enough content in the article to facilitate development of an interesting essay?

Article summary (20%)

Is the summary concise and well-written while capturing the key points and issues?

Firm Profile (30%)

• Does the profile examine stock price history, profitability and leverage for the previous five years?
• Does the profile examine the firm’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats?

 Essay (40%)

 Does the student succeed in linking the article to value creation and topics studied in Corporate Finance ?

• Is the student correctly interpreting and applying course content to the situations in the articles?
• Is the discussion well-organized?

Note to writer: Corporate Finance topics covered are:

1.      Capital Structure Theory

2.      Limits to the use of debt

3.      Valuation and Capital Budgeting for the Levered Firm

4.      Dividend Policy

5.      Issuing Securities to the Public

6.      Issuing Securities to the Public

7.      Option-like Securities

8.      Option-like Securities

9.      Credit and Inventory Management

10.  Risk Management

11.  Mergers and Acquisitions