3210AFE: Applied Finance - Wesfarmers, Woodside Petroleum, Telstra or Sonic Healthcare - Finance Assignment Help

Assignment Task:

Assuming you are working as a financial analyst and have been appointed by a public limited firm to evaluate its risk and return, earnings and cash flows, financing and dividend policies, and stock valuations. Based on your analyses, you are expected to infer whether the company is well-managed, good company or a poorly managed and to provide specific and overall recommendations to the company.

1. Purpose The purpose of this case study is to allow you to take some of the main concepts introduced throughout the course and provide a framework for applying them to a company of your choosing. One of the best ways of learning corporate finance is to apply the models and theories we encounter to real-world contexts and problems. However, while much if not all theory can be applied to actual companies and not just abstract examples, we necessarily need to compromise and make assumptions in this process given the available information. For this reason, it may not be possible for you to address all aspects of this case study fully.

2. Context Select one of the following companies: Wesfarmers, Woodside Petroleum, Telstra or Sonic Healthcare and address the questions using the framework for analysis given under Section 6. While you are selecting a firm, ensure that you are able to obtain at least the five most-recent annual reports or equivalent (i.e. from an electronic database) as a source of financial statement information and corresponding stock price data over a comparable period. You may use calculations from company information providers (incl. details of source and procedures) but including your own calculations using excel are highly recommended. Potential publicly available sources of information include the company and its website, financial and other publications, Yahoo Finance http://au.finance.yahoo.com (financials, stock prices, profiles, etc.), the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). Useful databases available via the university library include ABI/INFORM Complete (ProQuest), Annual Reports Collection, Morningstar DataAnalysis and OSIRIS. The Department of AFE’s trading room has access to Bloomberg. Assistance in answering case studies, writing reports and referencing is available under GBS Resources Bank on the course Learning@Griffith site.

3. Timing 2 You should begin the case study as soon as it comes available. This will avoid the requirement to complete a substantial amount of work immediately before the due date. Formal progress reports are not required, but you are encouraged to discuss any problems or concerns encountered with the case study with the campus convenor when they first arise.

4. Structure The case comprises objectives that focus on selected topic areas by providing a framework for analysis and key questions to address. You should respond to each objective and the key questions in their own section using the framework for analysis as a guide. Do not merely answer each of the framework questions (this may also not be possible depending on the company you have chosen). You are strongly encouraged to use financial analysis to support their arguments throughout, even if not covered explicitly in this course but elsewhere in your program. There is a maximum word limit of 4,000 words excluding references, tables, figures, and appendices. [Quality is more impressive than quantity]. Submit a zip file which contains the written report and the excel file, electronically as a single document through the course website. The final report must have following sections; introduction, risk and return, earnings and cash flows, financing sources, dividend policy, stock valuation, real options and conclusion/recommendations.