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Technical stock analysis uses past prices and trading volume or both to predict future prices. A broad range of techniques such as chart analysis, moving averages, and other filters and oscillators can be used to identify predictable patterns in stock prices. The conventional wisdom is that stock-price patterns emerge from systematic psychological behavior of market participants. This note provides an overview of some common analytical tools for identifying trading opportunities.

Spreadsheet for case UV1203

This case examines the April 2007 decision of British music company EMI to suspend its annual dividend as the company struggled to respond to the effect of digital audio distribution on its core business. The EMI case is intended to serve as an engaging introduction to corporate financial policy and themes in managing the right side of the balance sheet. The case contrasts EMI's storied success with artists such as the Beatles, the Beach Boys, Pink Floyd, and Norah Jones with its recent inability to succeed in financial markets. In light of takeover threats and restructuring costs, EMI's CFO Martin Stewart must recommend EMI's dividend policy.

This case examines the question of financial leverage at California Pizza Kitchen (CPK) in July 2007. With a highly profitable business and an aversion to debt, CPK management is considering a debt-financed stock buyback program. The case is intended to provide an introduction to the Modigliani and Miller capital structure irrelevance propositions and the concept of debt tax shields. With the background of a pizza company, the case provides an engaging context to discuss the "pizza graphs" that are commonly used in corporate finance curriculum to illustrate the wealth effects of capital structure decisions.

This case captures the cash-flow and working-capital management problems typical of small, growing businesses. At the end of 2015, Bob and Maggie Brown have completed their third year of operating Horniman Horticulture, a $1-million-revenue woody-shrub grower in central Virginia. While experiencing booming demand and improving margins, the couple is puzzled by their plummeting cash balance. The case highlights the difference between cash flow and accounting profits, as well as the common negative effects of growth on cash flow. The case provides a forum for establishing appreciation for the relevance of free cash flow to business owners and managers, introducing financial ratio analysis, developing the concept of the cash cycle and working-capital management, and motivating the use of financial models.

Spreadsheet for case UV1403

In early 2007, two partners in an Oklahoma medical practice must reconcile their booming urology business with declines in practice cash flow. The case highlights the difference between cash flow and accounting profits, as well as the common negative cash-flow effects of growth. It provides a straightforward introduction to simple financial-statement modeling and an opportunity to build intuition on the importance of cash flow to business owners. The case is particularly suited for an audience with a professional business-practice perspective.

This note provides an introduction to financial ratios and financial forecasting. It examines principles in the art and science of thoughtful financial forecasting. In particular, it reviews the importance of understanding financial ratios.

In August 2002, the French retail giant Carrefour S.A. was considering alternative currencies for raising (euro) EUR750 million in the Eurobond market. Carrefour's investment bankers believed that the bonds can be issued at 5.25% in euros, 5.375% in British pounds, 3.625% in Swiss francs, and 5.5% in U.S. dollars. Despite the high nominal coupon rate and the lack of any material business activity in the United Kingdom, the British-pound issue appears to provide the lowest cost of funds. This case was designed to introduce topics in international finance such as interest-rate parity, currency risk management, and the Eurobond market. Students are tasked with exploring why forward-currency exchange rates vary from spot rates and proposing a Eurobond financing strategy for Carrefour.

The investment-strategy decisions of a Darden Capital Management student-portfolio management team in 2004 are examined. Case materials allow students to estimate CAPM-based expected returns using market data. The case focuses on introducing the portfolio-allocation decision; exploring the relevance of various investment-risk metrics; developing the intuition of diversification, market risk, and the capital-asset-pricing model; building judgment on how to appropriately estimate the CAPM parameters using available market data; and discussing the fundamental concepts of market efficiency.

This note reviews the fundamental terminology and pricing techniques for a simple risk-free bond contract. The note is intended to introduce students to the concept of the time value of money and the basic language of bond markets.

This case examines the April 2002 decision of JetBlue management to price the initial public offering of JetBlue stock during one of the worst periods in airline history. The case outlines JetBlue's innovative strategy and the associated strong financial performance over its initial two years. Students are invited to value the stock and take a position on whether the current $22-$24 per share filing range is appropriate. The case is designed to showcase corporate valuation using discounted cash flow and peer-company market multiples. The epilogue details the 67% first-day rise in JetBlue stock from the $27 offer price. With such a backdrop, students are exposed to one of the well-known finance anomalies--the IPO underpricing phenomenon--and are invited to critically discuss various proposed explanations.

Spreadsheet supplement for case UV2512.

This case follows the performance review and financial-statement-forecasting decisions of a Value Line analyst for the retail building-supply industry in October 2002. The case contrasts the strong operating performance of Home Depot with the strong stock-market performance of Lowe's. Students examine a financial ratio analysis for Home Depot that acts as a template to generate a comparable ratio analysis for Lowe's. The student ratio analysis is designed to build intuition with respect to interpreting individual ratios as well as ratio interrelationships (e.g., the DuPont framework). The historical-performance comparison suggests that investors are skeptical of the ability of Home Depot to maintain its performance trajectory, yet they project sustained improvements for Lowe's. Students are invited to scrutinize the analyst's five-year income-statement and asset-side balance sheet forecast for Home Depot. The case expressly focuses on the asset side of the balance sheet as a preview for other cases using free-cash-flow forecasting. The Home Depot forecast exercise exposes students to the mechanics of financial-statement modeling and sensitivity analysis, which they can use in building their own forecast for Lowe's. Finally, the strong-growth assumptions for Home Depot relative to the modest-growth forecast for the industry suggest that the company can be expected to capture massive and perhaps unreasonable market share in the near term. The exercise provides a striking example of the importance of comparing bottom-up business forecasting with top-down industry forecasts.

This case examines issues of asset control for Ben & Jerry's Homemade, Inc., in light of the outstanding takeover offers by Chartwell Investments, Dreyer's Grand, Unilever, and Meadowbrook Lane Capital in January 2000. The case provides a unique opportunity to discuss fundamental firm objectives and the implications of a nontraditional corporate orientation; it reviews the development of Ben & Jerry's strong social consciousness and the takeover-defense mechanisms that maintain management's control on company assets. Students, in the role of outside board members, are invited to review management's performance, estimate the economic cost of its social agenda, and evaluate the implications of takeover defense strategies. Ultimately, they must take a position on whether Ben & Jerry's should continue to independently pursue its social agenda or accept one of the attractive takeover offers and accept a shift toward greater profit orientation. The case requires relatively little prior finance knowledge, and is designed largely to provide a stimulating introduction to the principles of a traditional corporate finance curriculum.

This case examines the Fall 1998 decision of eBay management to proceed with the company's initial public offering during the quietest IPO market in twenty years. In Case A, eBay's Chief Financial Officer considers the financial and competitive implications of delaying the offering, as well as the challenge of fairly pricing the shares of an emerging unseasoned Internet stock. The case provides an excellent forum for students to discuss the costs and benefits of going public. Case B reviews the events of eBay's first trading day and the associated 160 percent return on the shares. With such a backdrop, students are exposed to one of the well-known finance anomalies--the IPO underpricing phenomenon--and are invited to critically discuss various proposed explanations.

This note addresses the methods used to value companies in an M&A (mergers and acquisitions) setting. It provides a detailed description of the discounted-cash-flow (DCF) approach and reviews other methods of valuation such as book value, liquidation value, replacement cost, market value, trading multiples of peer firms, and comparable transaction multiples.

In October 1990, the president of this bank (the 9th largest in Japan and 15th largest in the world) must design a financing plan with which to bring the bank into compliance with the new worldwide Bank for International Settlements' (BIS) capital-adequacy standards. The alternatives include (1) slowing the growth of the bank, (2) issuing equity, and (3) issuing convertible subordinated debentures. The tasks of the student are to compare and contrast the equity and convertibles tactics and to recommend a possible price or coupon rate for the convertible issue.