Question

Record the current price of the stock for each company you selected in Week 3’s Stock Journal. You may use any price during this week (e.g., day one price, the opening, the low, the high, the close, or any price you find when you check it during the day). Using MS Excel spreadsheet or MS Word document, put your Week 3 and Week 8 stock prices side-by-side, to show your comparison. Determine the current value of your total investment. Do not make any changes to your investment at this time. Calculate your total based on the number of shares and the new price per share, for each company. Provide your opinion / assessment of your investments. Evaluate the results of your current investment. Are you happy with the result and the trend? Are you upset because you’re investment is worth less than $25,000. Feel free to speculate / guess at why you believe the stock increased, decreased, or remained static. Name Apple Amazon Accenture Reasons for selection I love the products of Apple. I have used its iPhone and iPad and I really like them. They are doing well and will continue to do in future as technology improves and penetration of hand-held devices increases across the globe. I have bought some products online using the platform of this company. My experience was good. Amazon has toppled Microsoft to become the largest company in terms of market capitalization, recently. I am quite sure this company will do quite well as internet penetration improves across the globe. I have heard a lot about the management consulting, technology and outsourcing platforms of Accenture. They have growth platforms quite relevant to the industry. Their advisory services to the client are excellent. The company is nearly debt free and has strong financials. Current Share Price ($), P 152.29 1,640.56 146.23 Amount allocated ($), F 8,000.00 10,000.00 7,000.00 Nos. of shares, M = F / P 52.53 6.10 47.87 Integral nos. of shares, N 53.00 6.00 48.00 Funds actually invested ($) = N x P 8,071.37 9,843.36 7,019.04 Total funds invested ($) 24,933.77 (Sum of above three values, close to 25,000 but not exactly 25,000)

Answer 1

Using MS Excel spreadsheet or MS Word document, put your Week 3 and Week 8 stock prices side-by-side, to show your comparison. Determine the current value of your total investment. Do not make any changes to your investment at this time. Calculate your total based on the number of shares and the new price per share, for each company.

Name	Linkage	Apple	Amazon	Accenture	Total
Investment Amount	V0	8,071.37	9,843.36	7,019.04	24,933.77
Nos. of shares	N	53.00	6.00	48.00
Week 3 Share Price ($)	P	152.29	1,640.56	146.23
Week 8 Share Price ($)	P1	171.00	1,627.00	160.00
Current Value of Investment	V1 = N x P1	9,063.00	9,762.00	7,680.00	26,505.00

Current value of investment is shown in the last row of the table above. The total value of my investment is $ 26,505, as shown above.

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Provide your opinion / assessment of your investments. Evaluate the results of your current investment. Are you happy with the result and the trend? Are you upset because you’re investment is worth less than $25,000. Feel free to speculate / guess at why you believe the stock increased, decreased, or remained static.

Name	Linkage	Apple	Amazon	Accenture
Week 3 Share Price ($)	P	152.29	1,640.56	146.23
Week 8 Share Price ($)	P1	171.00	1,627.00	160.00
Gain / (Loss) ($)	P1 - P	18.71	(13.56)	13.77
% gain / (loss)	(P1 - P) / P	12.29%	-0.83%	9.42%

It's too short a period to comment upon any equity investment. Equities tend to perform well over a larger span of time. However, even over a short period of 5 weeks, we have managed to gain = $  26,505.00 - $ 24,933.77 = $ 1,571.23
upon an investment of $ 24,934. This is roughly = 1,571.23 / 24,934 = 6.30% gain in 5 weeks. On an annualized basis, this translates into a gain of 6.30% / 5 x 52 = 63% approximately. Hence, I am satisfied with the returns on my investment. While one stock (Amazon) in my portfolio declined, my overall portfolio made a gain.

There are various reasons why stock prices go up or down. However, the time frame involved is so small that there will hardly be any material fundamental change in the performance of the companies. Hence, over a short run, these fluctuations can be ascribed to supply and demand of these stocks. Also quarter ending 31st December 2018 results would have got announced in between. This may have also led to some fluctuations.