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By Tobey Mintz
February 2000
Introduction | Task | Process | Evaluation | Conclusion
How sweet would it be to win the lottery? Guess what? You and your three best friends split a ticket and won $40,0000. That’s $10,0000 a piece. Being the wise people you are, you have decided to invest the money in the stock market. Each one of you will choose a different sector to explore. From this sector you will select one equity and track it for a 6-week period. During this time you will chart it’s growth, keep current on related news, and maintain a journal of your experience. Finally, you will reconvene with your team to determine which of you made the best investment decision and complete your journal with your conclusions.
1.) Identify a sector you are interested in researching. You must each choose a different one. The stock sectors include Banking and Financial, Telecommunications, Utilities and oil, Transportation, Consumer, Pharmaceutical, Chemicals, Entertainment, Technology, Aerospace and Defense, Basic Industries, Construction and Real Estate, Durables, Energy, Health, Industrial Machinery and Equipment, Media and Leisure, Non-Durables, Retail and Wholesale, or Utilities.
2.) Select two stocks within a sector to compare using the Profile Form.
3.) Choose the stock you believe will perform the best over the next 6 weeks.
4.) Graph the daily highs, lows, and closing prices.
5.) Keep a journal composed of all decisions you’ve made including your choice of sector, stocks, and reasons for those choices. Any news having an impact on the price fluctuation of your stock, as well as thoughts and predictions should also be included in your journal. Finally, you will be asked to summarize your findings and offer some concluding thoughts during the 8th and final week.
1.) Spend the first two class periods browsing the following website. This will help you build a foundation of information regarding investment basics.
Edu Stock http://tqd.advanced.org/3088
2.) Study the Investment Lessons page of Invest Smart to learn the different types and categories of stocks.
http://library.thinkquest.org/10326
Also, look at to http://www.sectorupdates.com/ learn more news about stocks in various sectors.
3.) In your journal write about the sector of the market you have chosen to research and why.
4.) Choose two stocks within that sector and find out information requested on the
Company Profile Sheet. Go to for http://www.zacks.com/ this information. If you do not already know the company symbol, this web site will help you identify it. Also, check what news is available on these two companies.
5.) Take a trip to the company’s web site to learn even more about them.
6.) Decide which of the two companies you’d like to invest in for the next 6 weeks and add to your journal. You should start by stating the company you will be following and reasons based on your research as to why you have chosen that particular one.
7.) Begin to graph your company’s daily high, low, and closing price.
Click on the stock graph to enter your data. Double click on the graph to access the data entry table.
8.) Keep track of news regarding your company and anything else you find relevant record in your journal. The news may also have to do with current events having an impact on you companies’ stock price. (i.e. mad cow disease could impact the price of stock for a company like Hormel.) In your journal include predictions and thoughts you have regarding your stocks. Journal entries should be made at least two times per week.
9.) At the beginning of week 8 meet with your group to discuss your outcomes. In your journal, discuss whose $10,000 had the greatest return on their initial investment. What do you think was the reason or reasons for this.
10.) In your journal write a conclusion answering the following questions:
a. If I really had $10,000 would I invest it in the stock market and why?
b. If given this assignment again, what would I do the same?
c. If given this assignment again, what would I do differently?
See evaluation rubric.
Conclusion:
Everyone has now had the opportunity to learn what the stock market is and how to do research on a company. You have learned to track its growth as well as discover the impact news can have on the value of the stock price. If you ever decide to invest with real money, I hope you will be able to use what you’ve learned from this experience to make educated and strategic decisions. Finally, I wish you what you really need to be successful… Good Luck!
Introduction | Task | Process | Evaluation | Conclusion