Pick a United States publicly traded company from the New York Stock Exchange or Nasdaq that is not one of the 30 companies that comprise the Dow Jones Industrial list-see listing provided. YOU MAY ALSO NOT SELECT AMAZON, STARBUCKS, TESLA, or NVIDIA!
Through research on the Internet write a 1000 word paper (not to exceed 1500 words) on this company’s history, products, accounting practices, and financial health. Make sure to clearly label each section: HISTORY, PRODUCTS, ACCOUNTING PRACTICES, and FINANCIAL HEALTH.
The sections are self-explanatory with the exception of ACCOUNTING PRACTICES and FINANCIAL HEALTH. In the ACCOUNTING PRACTICES section I want you to take various accounting concepts we have covered in the course and write about how these concepts relate to your company-pick concepts that interest YOU. In essence with “accounting practices” what I am looking for is for you to take any concept we have covered in this course and apply it to your company. The sky is the limit. Talk about dark words/key terms as they pertain to your company. Perhaps discuss your company’s depreciation methods, whether they have goodwill, what type of debt they have, do they issue bonds, do they have any contingent liabilities, how do they age their account receivables, what type of internal controls do they have in place, etc. Their annual report which you can download will be extremely helpful as a source.
In the FINANCIAL HEALTH section you need to include a general overall picture of the company’s financial situation, calculations and discussion of at least two financial ratios that we have covered in this course, and a specific recommendation/state your opinion as to whether it would be a wise company to invest in and why.
IMPORTANT THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND
Download a copy of your company’s annual report to review as a starting point for your analysis. Make sure to list the annual report in your bibliography (points will be deducted if you do not).
The 1000 word minimum must be comprised of entirely your own original writing/thoughts (no quoted or footnoted material is allowed).
Students may NOT use ChatGPT or any other automated writing tool for this assignment. ChatGPT, and any other Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool, are forms of PLAGIARISM and it’s considered CHEATING to use them; it will not be tolerated. You are not allowed to plagiarize from an outside source. If you are caught using ChatGPT or any other automated writing tool/outside source you will receive an F on the assignment and be referred to the Dean of Discipline.
Title your post with the name of your company followed by its ticker symbol, its most recent closing price, the words “BUY” or “DON’T BUY” to convey your stock purchase recommendation, and the word count;
Here is an example of the heading each of you should have:
Pfizer
Ticker Symbol: PFE
Most Recent Closing Price: $48.13
Stock Purchase Recommendation: BUY
Word Count: 1418
Do not use MLA format for any portion of your submission other than the citing of references where it is optional (you need to include a bibliography/works cited page in your Discussion Board submission but not in your turnitin.com submission);
Use your original thoughts, opinions, and words to formulate the analysis-DO NOT PLAGIARIZE;
Copy and paste your document into the WebQuest Project Discussion Board directly;
Do not attach your project as a document into the Discussion Board;
Feel free to add images to your submission to make it visually appealing (think extra credit);
Submit your research paper (minus the Works Cited page) to turnitin.com (through the WebQuest Research Project Module located beneath the Week 12 Module under MODULES in the left side bar of this page); and
Thoroughly read the assignment instructions TWICE to ensure you are following the specific criteria.
Dow Jones Industrial list
You may NOT select a company from this list. (I ADDED IT TO THE FILES BELOW UNDER DowJones30-list.pdf) YOU MAY ALSO NOT SELECT AMAZON, STARBUCKS, TESLA, or NVIDIA!
MORE INFO WILL BE IN THE FILES BELOW, PLEASE READ THROUGH IT THOROUGHLY AS IT’S AN IMPORTANT ASSIGNMENT, ALSO WHEN WRITING PLEASE USE HIGH-LEVEL WRITING AS SIGNIFICANT WORDS MAKE IT HARD TO UNDERSTAND AND IS TOO ADVANCED FOR MY STYLE OF WRITING SO PLEASE KEEP IT SIMPLE AND NOT USE COMPLEX WORDS.
