Suppose you are an equity analyst at a small, independent firm that sells investment research to its clients. Part of your job is to make buy and sell recommendations on equity securities. For this assignment, select an industry that interests you. Pick a firm in this industry and complete a comprehensive analysis of the firm, including a valuation and a recommendation (strong buy, buy, hold, sell, or strong sell) for the firms common stock.

The chosen firms must be publicly traded. One easy way to find the firms competitors and industry averages is to use an online service such as Yahoo! Finance. Be certain your firm has several years of data. You will need to read many public sources of information such as the SEC filings of the 10-Ks, 10-Qs, and proxy statements. You will also want to compare each firm to industry averages. You may use any software you like for this project.

You will be required to do the following:

1. A written report, due June 18th. Your report should include the following: a. An executive summary.

b. An analysis overview which includes background information the company and the industry. This should include:

i. A summary of the firms history

ii. The firms main customers and competition

iii. Information on top management and management compensation.

iv. Anything else you feel is important.

c. A summary of the firms business strategy.

d. A financial analysis which should include:

i. Analysis of short-term liquidity and longer-term solvency.

ii. Analysis of asset efficiency (e.g., turnover)

iii. Analysis of profitability.

iv. Analysis of cash flow.

e. Prospective analysis to include three to five years financial statements, along with a terminal year projection. Include your assumptions used to create these statements.

f. A valuation of the firms stock price per share. You may use any method you wish, however you must defend your choice.

g. A conclusion including your recommendation regarding the stock. h. A bibliography that reveals all sources of information you used. It is perfectly acceptable to use public information, however it must be cited.