Archived Information for Spring 2011 Class
Deadlines: - Start early. Writing a Wikinvest article, and writing it well, is harder than you thought.
- The deadlines serve as cut-off points.
- Revisions you make after the cut-off points will not be considered for grading purpose.
- However, many students continued to maintain and improve their wiki articles even after the deadlines
- Because a wiki article demonstrate one's overall finance skill set to potential employers.
- Each student will participate in three Wikinvest articles.
- Each team must complete two Wikinvest articles.
- Deadlines:
- Entry #1: 03/04/2011 (i.e. before the Spring Break)
- Entry #2: 04/27/2011 (i.e. last class)
- Each student must complete one article of his/her own, in addition to the two team articles.
- Deadline: 04/29/2011 (i.e. the Friday after last class)
How can I find a stock that hasn't been spoken for? - Wikinvest has a "Wanted Companies" list for stocks that haven't been covered.
- You are more likely to find an open spot among the small-cap stocks in the Russell 2000 index
- The list is not exhaustive, and may not be up to date.
- Double check availability by typing the stock's ticker or name into Wikinvest's search box
Some advice: Read my Powerpoint slides on how to write a good Wikinvest article and where to gather information. The structure/outline is just a suggestive example. - Every section in your article is not equally important.
- For example, by definition the business overview section tends to be shorter than other sections, as "overview" literally means summary.
- On the other hand, the ostensibly simple term "SWOT" is broadly inclusive and can turn out to be a long and hard journey.
- The relative importance of each section varies from company to company.
- Make your own judgment and write more on what you believe is more important for the company you cover.
- What I know for sure is that every section in your entry will not turn out to be of equal length
- In some industries, competitive advantages (e.g. barriers to entry, economies of scale) are deciding factors.
- There, companies focus on formulating strategies to manage and reinforce their advantages.
- In other industries, the playing field is relatively level, and companies concentrate their efforts on becoming more efficient than competitors.
- For some companies, differentiation and marketing activities are the key to success;
- For others, more efficient supply chain management and cost control may be their winning tactics.
- Human resources: the successes of some companies may depend on a small group of key personnel
- Some companies are dominated by a controlling founder or a charismatic leader (e.g. Steve Jobs at Apple Inc., Michael Dell at Dell Inc.)
- There, analyzing its leader is as important as a company's operations.
- In some other companies, even an idiot can run them and the leaders are irrelevant.
- Some companies rely heavily on a famous designer (Tom Ford at Gucci), a sales person with extensive business contacts, a spokesperson (Tiger Woods for Nike Golf), or a star (LaBron James at Cleveland Cav).
- Even the loyalest talents can be hired away by competitors, if the price is high enough.
- Length does not equal quality.
- A well organized and informative piece is better than a 100-page data dump.
- Grading is relative (to other teams).
- How much effort your team decides to put into the assignment really depends on your goal and expectation.
- You can always monitor the other teams' progresses at http://www.fi414.com/choosing-stocks
Where to find information:
- Company "Investors Relations" web sites
- Every publicly-listed company's web site has a dedicated "Investor Relations" section
- It is a treasury of relevant information and your recommended starting point
- Company annual reports and quarterly reports
- Annual reports are called 10-K
- Quarterly reports are called 10-Q
- They can be obtained for free at company websites or SEC data site EDGAR.
- Transcripts, presentation slides and webcast of conference calls and analysts meetings
- Usually available in "Investor Relations" section
- Management may give some "color" on the abstract numbers to help you understand their business operations.
- Major newspaper (use Google News)
- Google Search. Internet search is powerful. Use it
- Check the Resources section of this site for useful financial information resources on the Internet.
- Unlike school exams in which a perfect score can be obtained once you give a correct answer, a Wikinvest artucke can always be improved.
- I am not going to impose a word limit or page limit on your Wikinvest articles.
- In fact, I intentionally encourage an "arm race"
- Grading is based on your relative performance vs. other teams.
- You get a higher score by doing better than your classmates and other teams.
- Other teams can view your progress in real time and catch up if they wish.
- Quantity does not equal quality.
- A well-organized, concise piece is certainly better than a 100-page information-dump.
- Do whatever you it takes to make your article the best on Wikinvest.
- Most Wikinvest articles are written by volunteers, usually amateurs, during their free time.
- I don't consider you as volunteers.
- You are professionals and you have four months to work on your assignments.
- Your work must be significantly deeper and rigorous in analysis and better in quality.
- Wikinvest is a collaborative editing platform.
- Allowing teammates to work together simultaneously, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
- Wikinvest iPhone and Android apps allow you to track your team and other teams' progress in real time, any time.
- The MSU Writing Center provides one to one consulting to review and improve your writing skills.
- The service is free.
- They also specialize on digital media writing.
- You should make the best use out of this free service.
Requirements: - Unlike in the Stock Pitch Competition, you are allowed to cover financial, commodity, or utility stocks.
- Your entries must be new.
- That is, an entry's "Summary" section must be empty before you take over.
- Wikinvest has automatically pre-filled the Data and News sections.
- You will work on the Summary section only.
- It's fine if the article is almost empty
- Some Wikinvest articles have less than 10 lines of text in the "Summary" section.
- Maybe someone started but then abandoned them.
- They are considered new for this assignment's purpose.
- In order to prove that you are the actual authors of a Wikinvest entry:
- In your Wikinvest user profile, please provide enough info for me to identify you as one of my students
- e.g. write "FI 414" in the profile page.
- You don't necessarily need to use your real names.
- However, if you're an excellent finance writer, why don't you want your potential employers to know about your talents?
- A popular Wikinvest entry attracts hundreds of views a week.
- And a typical reader is an investment professional.
- Some of them may be potential employers.
- Follow the Writing Guidelines of Wikinvest.
- I won't teach you how to edit in Wikinvest. Read the Help section of the site. Most students become proficient in it within 10 minutes.
- Plagiarism is easily spotted in collaborated editing platforms such as Wikinvest.
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