Initial Public Offering
The main purpose of an initial public offering (IPO) is to raise capital for the corporation. While IPOs are effective at raising capital, being listed on a stock exchange comes with heavy regulatory compliance and reporting requirements, which are expensive.
The Session Long Project (SLP) for the course will be performed using information on a company that is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). To complete the Module 1 SLP, choose a company that is publicly traded in the stock market. If you are unsure which company to choose, you can look through this list of companies in the S&P 500 (.yahoo.com/q/cp?s=%5EGSPC”>http://finance.yahoo.com/q/cp?s=%5EGSPC). The company cannot be a financial institution such as a bank, insurance company or a trust company.
Note: If you have taken FIN301 at TUI, choose a different company than the one you previously chose.
The company that you choose will be your SLP company for the entire course. State the name of that company in each of the Session Long Project reports.
Search for the company’s website and find the section called “Investor Relations” to obtain the financial information of the company over the past several years. For the first module, write a 3- to 4-page paper answering the following questions:
1) Provide a brief description of the company you chose, its main business and operational activities and a short synopsis of the main developments of the company over the past few years.
To answer Question 1, include the following, together with other information that you would like to provide:
· Current stock price of the company.
· Company sales/revenue for the past three years (e.g., 2010, 2011, 2012).
· Company profitability (net income) for the past three years.
· Total assets for the past three years.
· Total liabilities for the past three years.
· Owners equity for the past three years.
· Other financial information you find relevant.
Use a table to provide the above information.
To access the above information, go to.finance.yahoo.com/”>http://finance.yahoo.com, key in the company symbol (e.g., GE for General Electric), click on Key Statistics and then view financials as well (underneath Key Statistics table).
2) Explain why you chose this company (e.g., what makes it interesting to you personally? Is it profitability of the company over the last three years or something else?).Keep in mind that one of the main goals of a for-profit corporation is the maximization of shareholders wealth.
3) This is the main part of the assignment. Find out what you can about your SLP company’s IPO. If it is a newer corporation, this should not be too difficult. But if it is an older company this might be difficult. If you cannot find any information about your company’s IPO, discuss how you would go about taking your company public using what you have learned from the background materials and from Question 1.
Keep in mind that the Securities and Exchange Commission will not approve a financially weak and unprofitable company to be listed on a stock exchange.
4) What do you perceive you have learned in the Module 1 SLP? Which of the following learning outcomes do you feel you have mastered?
· Identify success factors for a firm making the IPO decision.
· Describe the steps a firm must take in order to go public.
Provide a brief evaluation of the Module 1 SLP.
Note: Your report/assignment will not be accepted without proper citations and references. You must use the sources from the background material together with the sources you find on your own. It is alsorequired that you answer all the questions related to learning outcomes.
Assignment Expectations:
In the Module 1 SLP, you are expected to:
· Describe the purpose of the paper and provide a conclusion. An introduction and a conclusion are important because many busy individuals in the business environment may only read the first and the last paragraph. If those paragraphs are not interesting, they never read the body of the paper.
· Answer the SLP questions clearly and provide necessary details. Review Tips for Good Writing [.trident.edu/CourseHomeModule.aspx?course=56&term=92&module=3&page=custom1″>https://cdad.trident.edu/CourseHomeModule.aspx?course=56&term=92&module=3&page=custom1] and a guideline to write a.trident.edu/Presentation.aspx?course=56&term=115&presentation=114508″>well-structured paper.
· Write clearly and correctlythat is, no poor sentence structure, no spelling and grammar mistakes, and no run-on sentences.
· Provide citations to support your argument and place references on a separate page. Use APA format to provide citations and references [.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/”>http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/].
· Answer all the SLP questions in an essay format. Do not type questions in the paper.
· Type and double-space the paper.
The following criteria will also be used to assess your paper:
>Precision: Does the paper address the question(s) or task(s)?
>Breadth: Is the full breadth of the subject addressed?
>Depth: Does the paper/report address all elements of the topic in sufficient depth? Does it include and apply the background readings and other background resources? Are they included as references?
>Critical thinking: Are the concepts of this module applied accurately, logically, and relevantly?
>Organization: Is the paper organized in a coherent and systematic manner? Are headings included in all papers longer than two pages?
>Clarity: Is the writing clear and are the concepts articulated properly? Are paraphrasing and synthesis of concepts the primary means of response to the questions, or are thoughts conveyed through excessive use of quotations?