Finance

Reducing the weighted average cost of capital (WACC) increases a company’s value. Remember, a firm is just a portfolio of projects; some projects have a positive NPV, and some have a negative NPV when evaluated using the WACC. Yet sometimes using the WACC to evaluate projects can be misleading and naive. Answer to the following: Under what circumstances would it be appropriate for a firm to use different costs of capital for its different operating divisions? If the overall corporate WACC were used for all divisions, what do you see as the issues and biases of such a practice? How would you estimate different costs of capital for the different divisions? Define two different methods to accomplish individual operating division costs of capital, and explain why your recommended methods would be effective.

Briefly introduce how Blockchain Technology is applied in the finance industry concurrently and then use at least two business cases to explain further.Hints: For the business case, you can first choose a firm that applies Blockchain Technology and explain how this firm applies and benefits from this technology with potential data analysis support

Write a discussion about what is fintech, its roles , and its relation in Islamic finance. Please add the references.

What will happen after Trump government want to ban Wechat please show your own points of view, a clear line of reasoning, and the related knowledge of finance and currency.

Should Analysts be Separated from Securities Firms to Ensure No Conflicts of Interest? Offer your opinion.

Question Your investment bank has an investment of $100 million in the stock of the Swiss Roll Corporation and a short position in the stock of the Frankfurter Sausage Company. Here is the recent price history of the two stocks: Percentage price change Month Frankfurter Sausage Swiss Roll January -10% -10% February -10% -5% March -10% 0% April 10% 0% May 10% 5% June 10% 10% On the evidence of these six months, how large would your short position in Frankfurter Sausage need to be to hedge as far as possible against movements in the price of Swiss Roll? Please explain your answer in detail and provide in-text citations.

Ratio analysis for 2017 to determine HEXO’s financial strength in the light of a potential expansion and to assess their financing needs and options; you can ignore the payback period (as we haven’t discussed this in the course and all the alternatives will meet the 4 years) Compare additional specific ratios with competitors (based on Exhibit 6): revenue per gram; cost per gram; contribution margin Projected income statements for the greenhouse construction  Projected balance sheets for the greenhouse construction For this part, you will have to decide on the financing type in order to complete the balance sheet; make your decision explicit Note that the income statements and balance sheets for the acquisition of Green Prosper have been provided in the excel template below Qualitatively assess the pro’s and con’s for one or two opportunities for future expansions into newly emerging and growing markets (brief). Pick one or two of the listen options which you think are a good fit for HEXO.

Applied Finance Home Depot analysis, due last week of course Fall 2020  Write a 1500-word Financial Analysis Report in which you are invited to apply the data analysis, as provided during the course, to The Home Depot Company during years of your choice, other than 2012 and 2013.  I. Risks and returns  Extract from financial sites available to the public such as NYSE, https://www.nyse.com/quote/XNYS:HD, Google Finance, Yahoo Finance, Bloomberg, historic data of The Home Depot company, thereafter The Company, over TWO years. Obtain for the same time the S&P500 Index. Calculate and present the average daily holding period returns and the standard deviation of these returns for the SP500 index and The Company.  Date S&P 500 The Company  ….. ………….. …………………….  ….. ………….. …………………….  ….. ………….. …………………….  …  a. Plot the holding period returns from the Company against the SP500 Index  b. From the graphs in part b) describe the nature of the correlation between the stock returns of The Company and the returns for the SP500 index.  c. Obtain from Standard and Poor or alternative source such as Yahoo Finance, https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/HD/key-statistics/ the beta of The Company.  d. Assume that the Treasury bill rate is 2% and that the expected market return is 6%. In consideration of the betas for The Company, estimate an appropriate rate of return, using CAPM, for the Company  II. Financial statement analysis  To complete this section, access the 10-K yearly report of The Company, registered with the SEC for the year of your choice, from The Company’s site or directly from SEC filing site, https://www.sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/companysearch.html  II.a Review items 1 and 3 of the 10K as well as the Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm. Write a concise summary of the important items from reading these items.  II.b Analyze the balance sheet of The Company provided by 10K form. Write a summary that includes important points that an analyst would use in assessing the financial condition of The Company.  II.c Using The Company’s income statement provided in the 10K form, analyze the profitability of The Company by calculating any ratios deemed necessary for the past three years. Ensure to calculate sales growth and operating expenses evolution for each two-year period presented.  II.d Using the consolidated statements of stockholders’ equity for The Company, explain the key reasons for the changes in the common stock, accumulated other comprehensive income, and retained earnings accounts. Evaluate these changes.  II.e Prepare a summary analysis of the Statements of Cash Flows for all years available in The Company’s 10K form over the years selected. Include important points used in assessing the ability of The Company to generate cash flows and the appropriateness of the use of cash flows by The Company.  III. Comprehensive analysis  III.a Using The Company annual report, calculate key financial ratios for all years presented. Find industry averages to compare to the above calculations.  III.b Write a report as if dedicated to the management of The Company. Your report should include an evaluation of short-term liquidity, operating efficiency, capital structure and long-term solvency, profitability, market measures, and a discussion of any quality of financial reporting issues.  III.c Identify strengths and weaknesses and provide your opinion about the investment potential and the creditworthiness of The Company

Smallman & Brown, Ch. 4. Why were the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund created? What has been the main focus of these institutions? What is the Washington Consensus? What is the World Trade Organization? How does it operate? What is the main difference between the way Iceland and Greece faced the economic recession of the late 2000s? Dona Thomas, Fashionopolies Introduction and chapter 1 How has fashion changed over the years? What is “fast fashion” and what is its rationale? Who has benefitted and who has not from the globalization of fashion?

1. Differentiate between Acquisition, Merger, and Takeover and provide one example for each – (30 pts). Acquisition Merger Take Over Read the case below about Cisco and answer the questions (p.228.229) Cisco Systems is in the business of building the infrastructure that allows the Internet to work. As the Internet evolved, however, Cisco’s business was required to change with this evolution. As part of its advancement, Cisco Systems has used an acquisition strategy to build network products and extend its reach into new areas, both related and unrelated. In the beginning, digital connectivity was important through e-mail and Web browsing and searches. This evolved into a network economy facilitating e-commerce, digital supply chains, and digital collaboration. Subsequently, the digital interaction phase moved Cisco into developing infrastructure for social media, mobile and cloud computing, and digital video. The next stage seems to be “the Internet of everything” connecting people, processes, and data (those of you who attended AT&T’s CEO talk on campus would remember his mentioning of this!) This will require the basic core in routing, switching, and services, as well as large data centers to facilitate visualization through cloud computing. Video and collaboration as well as basic architecture of the business will be transforming to become the base strategic business blocks. Furthermore, the need to have strong digital security will be paramount. Cisco has entered many aspects of the business in which it competes through acquisitions. For instance, in 2012, Cisco acquired TV software developer NDS for $5 billion. NDS Group develops software for television networks. In particular, its solutions allow pay-TV providers to deliver digital content to TVs, DVRs, PCs, and other multimedia devices. It provides solutions that protect digital content so only paid subscribers can access it. Because of Cisco’s customer-driven focus, it has sought to help its customers capture these market transitions and meet their particular needs. Of course, Cisco also builds the routers that allow video data and e-mail communications to come together through their blade servers (individual and modular servers that cut down on cabling). These routers and servers support cloud computing for the mobile devices that deliver the video that NDS software enables on desktop and mobile devices. Also in 2012, Cisco purchased Meraki for $1.2 billion. Meraki provides solutions that optimize services in the cloud. For instance, it offers mid-sized customers Wi-Fi, switching, security, and mobile device management centrally from a set of cloud servers. For instance, if you are a server at a university or other company campus it supports, you can bring your own personal device into the network, which allows guest networking and facilitates application controls. It manages the firewall and other advanced networking services to protect security as well. John Chambers, Cisco CEO, has helped the firm move through the many transitions noted earlier. In the IT sector, 90 percent of acquisitions fail. However, as Chambers notes. “although Cisco does better than anyone else, we know that a third of our acquisitions won’t work.” Chambers worked for companies that did not successfully make transitions. Wang Laboratories missed a transition, and after experiencing this as an executive, Chambers learned to have a “healthy paranoia.” He adds: more than anything, I’ve tried to make Cisco a company that can see big transitions and move.” One way they do this is to “listen to the customers very closely” to understand the necessary changes. As Cisco makes the transition into the all-everything network, not only must it manage the cloud, but it also must provide service to the mobile devices that work in cellular networks. Accordingly, Cisco also acquired Intucell, a self-optimizing network software developer, for $475 million. It likewise acquired Truviso, Inc., a provider of network data analysis and reporting software, for an undisclosed price (Truviso was partly owned by venture capital firms and was headquartered in Israel). Most recently, Cisco acquired Ubiquisys, which cuts cellular carriers’ costs by shifting traffic from towers to more targeted locations inside an office, home or public space, which also boosts the service’s reliability.” This shifting-traffic approach is especially efficient when seeking to improve “coverage in crowded areas such as stadiums, convention centers and subway stations.” These acquisitions help cellular network customers manage their products in the network more efficiently in the delivery of data, e-mail and video services. As you can see, for this series of acquisitions, Cisco has used acquisitions strategically to move into new areas of its environment changes, to learn about new technologies, and to gain knowledge on new technologies as it experiences these transitions. In the process of this rapid change, Cisco has developed a distinct ability to integrate acquisitions. When Cisco contemplates an acquisition, along with financial due diligence to make sure that it is paying the right price, it develops a detailed plan for possible post-merger integration. It begins communicating early with stakeholders about integration plans and conducts rigorous post-mortems to identify ways to “make subsequent integrations more efficient and effective.” Once a deal is completed, this allows the company to hit the ground running when the deal becomes public. Cisco is ready “from Day 1 to explain how the two companies are going to come together and provide unique value and how the integration effort itself will be structured to realize value.” The firm does not “want the (acquired) organization to go in limbo,” which can happen if the integration process is not well thought out. Also, during the integration process, it is important to know how far the integration should go. Sometimes integration is too deep, and value that was being sought in the acquisition is destroyed. Sometimes it may even pay to keep the business separate from Cisco’s other operations to allow the business to function without integration until the necessary learning is complete. “Cisco learned the hard way that complex deals require you to know at a high level of detail how you’re going to drive value.” 2. Of the “reasons for Acquisitions” section in the chapter, which reasons are the primary drivers of Cisco’s acquisition strategy? (20 pts). 3. Of the acquisitions Cisco has completed, which ones are horizontal acquisitions and which ones are vertical acquisitions? Justify your answer (20 pts). 4. Explain John’s Chambers’ view about acquisitions. How have his views affected the nature of Cisco’s Acquisition Strategy? (30 pts).