EXC 3612 Investment Analysis

EXC 3612 Investment Analysis

Course code: 
EXC 3612
Department: 
Finance
Credits: 
7.5
Course coordinator: 
Bruno Gerard
Course name in Norwegian: 
Investment Analysis
Product category: 
Bachelor
Portfolio: 
BBA - Specialisation in Finance
Semester: 
2018 Autumn
Active status: 
Active
Level of study: 
Bachelor
Teaching language: 
English
Course type: 
One semester
Introduction

This course intends to provide an understanding of the investment environment and process. The investment environment includes the kinds of marketable securities that exist and where and how they are bought and sold. The process is concerned with decision-making, how much to invest in each security and when to make these investments. The course also focuses on the valuation of the different securities.

Learning outcomes - Knowledge

Upon completion of the course, students shall comprehend key concepts and the analytics of financial investment analysis such as

  • Expected returns and idiosyncratic as well as portfolio risks;
  • The concept of diversification;
  • To demonstrate risk-management skills by taking positions in financial options' contracts in order to hedge an underlying asset portfolio

 

Learning outcomes - Skills

Upon completion of the course, students are required to master tasks such as;

  • Calculating estimates of expected return and risk from a series of past returns
  • Applying modern portfolio theory for finding optimal investment portfolios
  • Calculating required rates of return and risk based on various asset pricing models
  • Calculating yields to maturity on bonds
     
Learning Outcome - Reflection
  • Upon completion of the course, the students shall be able to ask critical questions and reflect on crucial assumptions and theories within the field of financial investments.
Course content
  • Bond Valuation
  • The Term Structure of Interest Rates
  • Stock Valuation models
  • Risk and Expected Return
  • Modern Portfolio Theory
  • Equilibrium in Capital Markets
  • Market Efficiency
  • Performance rvaluation
  • Introduction to derivatives (if time permits)
Learning process and requirements to students

The course will include a combination of lectures and tutorials where solutions to exercises will be explained. 

Specific Information regarding any aspect of performance assessment will be provided in class. It is the student's responsibility to obtain this information. Please note that whilst attendance is not compulsory, it is the student’s responsibility to obtain any information provided in class that is not included on the course homepage/itslearning or in the text book. Homepages and/or itslearning are not designed for the purpose of students who choose not to attend class.

Students are recommended to use computer-based tools, e.g. spreadsheets. Such tools, however, are not allowed at the examination.

Evaluation

This is a course with continuous assessment (several exam components) and one final exam code. Each exam component is graded by using points on a scale from 0-100. The components will be weighted together according to the information in the course description in order to calculate the final letter grade for the examination code (course). Students who fail to participate in one/some/all exam elements will get a lower grade or may fail the course.

Specific information regarding student evaluation beyond the information given in the course description will be provided in class. This information may be relevant for requirements for term papers or other hand-ins, and/or where class participation can be one for several elements of the overall evaluation.

At re-sit all exam components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course.

Software tools
No specified computer-based tools are required.
Additional information

At re-sit requires that the entire evaluation process is conducted again, and that students who do not achieve points in one or more exam components will get a lower grade or fail the course. Previously conducted examination components will not be part of the assessment for a new grade.

Qualifications

The specialisation requires two years of university education in Business Administration or equivalent.

Required prerequisite knowledge

EXC 2910 Mathematics, EXC 2904 Statistics, EXC 2110 Basic Financial Management, or equivalent.

Assessments
Assessments
Exam category: 
Submission
Form of assessment: 
Written submission
Weight: 
15
Grouping: 
Group/Individual (1 - 4)
Duration: 
2 Week(s)
Exam code: 
EXC 36121
Grading scale: 
Point scale leading to ECTS letter grade
Resit: 
All components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course
Exam category: 
Submission
Form of assessment: 
Written submission
Weight: 
15
Grouping: 
Group/Individual (1 - 4)
Duration: 
2 Week(s)
Exam code: 
EXC 36121
Grading scale: 
Point scale leading to ECTS letter grade
Resit: 
All components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course
Exam category: 
Submission
Form of assessment: 
Written submission
Invigilation
Weight: 
70
Grouping: 
Individual
Support materials: 
  • BI-approved exam calculator
  • Simple calculator
  • Bilingual dictionary
  • Interest table
Duration: 
3 Hour(s)
Exam code: 
EXC 36121
Grading scale: 
Point scale leading to ECTS letter grade
Resit: 
All components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course
Exam organisation: 
Continuous assessment
Grading scale: 
ECTS
Total weight: 
100
Student workload
ActivityDurationComment
Teaching
36 Hour(s)
Feedback activities and counselling
6 Hour(s)
Prepare for teaching
83 Hour(s)
Submission(s)
30 Hour(s)
Student's own work with learning resources
45 Hour(s)
Sum workload: 
200

A course of 1 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of 26-30 hours. Therefore a course of 7,5 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of at least 200 hours.