Chris Norton is a young Hollywood writer who is well on his way to television superstardom. After writing several successful television specials, he was recently named the head writer for one of TVs top-rated sitcoms. Chris fully realizes that his business is a fickle one and, on the advice of his dad and manager, has decided to set up an investment program. Chris will earn about a half-million dollars this year. Because of his age, income level, and desire to get as big a bang as possible from his investment dollars, he has decided to invest in speculative, high-growth stocks.

Chris is currently working with a respected Beverly Hills broker and is in the process of building up a diversified portfolio of speculative stocks. The broker recently sent him informa- tion on a hot new issue. She advised Chris to study the numbers and, if he likes them, to buy as many as 1,000 shares of the stock. Among other things, corporate sales for the next 3 years have been forecasted as follows:

Case Problem 8.2

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Marc Dodier is a recent university graduate and a security analyst with the Kansas City bro- kerage firm of Lippman, Brickbats, and Shaft. Marc has been following one of the hottest issues on Wall Street, C&I Medical Supplies, a company that has turned in an outstanding performance lately and, even more important, has exhibited excellent growth potential. It has 5 million shares outstanding and pays a nominal annual dividend of 5 cents per share. Marc has decided to take a closer look at C&I to see whether it still has any investment play left. Assume the companys sales for the past five years have been as follows:

Year Sales ($ in millions)

1 22.5

2 35.0

3 50.0

The firm has 2.5 million shares of common stock outstanding. They are currently being traded at $70 a share and pay no dividends. The company has a net profit rate of 20%, and its stock has been trading at a P/E of around 40 times earnings. All these operating characteristics are expected to hold in the future.

Questions

Looking first at the stock:

1. Compute the companys net profits and EPS for each of the next 3 years.

2. Compute the price of the stock 3 years from now.

3. Assuming that all expectations hold up and that Chris buys the stock at $70, determine

his expected return on this investment.

4. What risks is he facing by buying this stock? Be specific.

5. Should he consider the stock a worthwhile investment candidate? Explain.

Looking at Chriss investment program in general:

1. What do you think of his investment program? What do you see as its strengths and weaknesses?

2. Are there any suggestions you would make?

3. Do you think Chris should consider adding foreign stocks to his portfolio? Explain.