Tire City and Hampton Financials

The Excel files with the financials of the Tire City case (due 9/18) are available here and for the Hampton Machines (due 9/20) case here.

A long break in posting

School has started a week ago. ’nuff said.  Just a run-down on other academic blogger sites.

• A Gentleman’s C complains about grouchy professors.
• RateYourStudents discusses the inevitable in academia: return to the classroom and blogging.
• Financial rounds has some interesting posts, one about trading options around take-overs, courtesy of Wall Street Journal, and the joys of academic research. I am more than happy to work with you using that database — man, 200 companies with corporate governance info; I call that Bearls and Means heaven.
• Brad DeLong has an interesting classroom related post on economic growth.  What is really cool, though, is the use of Google’s GapMinder application.  Wow, that’s a cool way to make statistics palatable.

That’s all for today.

Link to homework II

A link to the Excel file for homework II due 8/30.

Countdown

Classes start tomorrow … You probably knew that. This calls for the final countdown. The Swede in me could not pass this up at all. I know I will regret this in the very near future, but the Swedish chef would have said it as follows. Clesses stert tumurroo … Yuoo prubebly knoo thet. Thees cells fur zee feenel cuoontdoon. Zee Svede-a in me-a cuoold nut pess thees up et ell. Bork Bork Bork! To satisfy your Borking needs, here is a link for more … Bork unteel tumurroo.

Stocks up on tame inflation data and other musings …

The market is up today, which pleases me.

• Stocks rose. On the New York Stock Exchange Tuesday, 2,513 stocks advanced and 782 declined on volume of 1.2 billion shares.
• Bonds advanced. The 10-year note rose 13/32, or $4.06 for every $1,000 invested, to yield 4.885% Wednesday, and the 30-year note was up 21/32 to yield 5.006%.
• The dollar weakened. The euro was at $1.2852 from $1.2785 late Tuesday, while the dollar was at 115.79 yen from 116.10 yen.

The lower reading on consumer inflation raised hopes that the Federal Reserve’s rate-lifting campaign has ended; the DJIA had climbed to within 81 points of its all-time high. The Labor Department’s consumer price index increased by 0.4% in July, up from a 0.2% increase in June. This is in line with analyst expectations. The less volatile core CPI grew 0.2% last month. Thus, without the influence of volatile food and energy, the core CPI grew below expectations. On a yearly basis, the core CPI is up 2.7%. Additionally, the wholesale inflation also showed moderating inflation pressures.

The housing prices show signs of some well-needed moderation.
Just a couple of interesting blogs…

• Greg Mankiw enters into the ongoing debate between Jeremy Siegel and John Bogle on passive investing in NYT. The core point is Siegel’s recently advanced idea of fundamental investing – creating indexes that reflect fundamental or value directed valuation ratios, capitalizing on systematic mispricing in the markets and the inability of active managers to reap value. Mankiw sides with Bogle. And it is easy to see why from an efficient market perspective.
• In his blog Barry Ritholtz looks at the uses and abuses of inflation data. But most importantly, he sees as many on Wall Street, the ugly head of stagflation. With slower consumer inflation, negative producer price inflation, relatively high interest rates, weaker GDP numbers, value decline in housing stocks and volume decline in housing starts, as well as somewhat weaker consumer data. It is easy to see why.
• On the happiness front, there is a small piece on Money and Happiness in the Wall Street Journal. My point is that I would rather cry 0n the backseat of a Bentley than a Hyundai.

Miscellaneous links …

• Best blog right now – seeking alpha.
• Sen. Santorum who has recently turned green, is gaining on Casey. According to the Quinnipiac poll, the tactic works.
• Swann trailing in campaign for Pennsylvania’s governorship. Another possible (rather likely) win for the Edster.
• In other PA political news, Hazleton, PA, faces a lawsuit. Recently, mayor Lou Barletta and Hazelton council members passed a controversial legistlation that was to punish those who hire or rent to illegal immigrants. Landlords would be fined $1000 per illegal immigrant. This act also made the English the town’s official language. This is a sad infringement on civil liberties. I do not support any sides of the current illegal immigration debate. Any legislation on any level attempting to change the status quo would make the situation worse – nothing Pareto optimal here. What worries me is that other communities across the United States have requested information on this proposal for use in their own municipalities
• The debate on what colleges do for a living continues. I am a strong believer in the objective certification model of eduction, an approach recently suggested by the federal Commission on the Future of Higher Education. Already and unexpectedly, there is some tension brewing. There is a crisis in higher education and the sooner we solve it, the better for the students.
• Should I jump on the Allen – Macaca, Katherine Harris, or the Liberdammung bandwagon?
• Is Keith Olberman onto something?
• Reading Granma International’s English language feed offers a different perspective on the Cuban life. According to Hugo Chavez, Fidel is more like a brother than a friend.
• When will Ahmadinejad blog in English? Al-Jazera already does it and their cartoons can be entertaining – sometimes.
• From youtube another hilarious clip.

First email – before the start of the semester

Before the beginning of the fall semester, I want to share some information regarding the course with you. 

For general information about the class, you find the syllabus at http://financialblog.files.wordpress.com/2006/08/20060801-f06-370-syllabus.pdf

Many of you want to find a cheap textbook for the course.  If you want to order the book before the semester from an online book-seller, the textbook we will use is Higgins’ Analysis for Financial Management, 8th ed.
http://financialblog.wordpress.com/2006/07/27/textbook-selection/

You will find the best prices for the book at
http://isbn.nu/007325858X

Apart from the textbook, you will also need a financial calculator and a set of cases as well. You will find the best prices for the calculator at
http://www.mysimon.com/9000-11036_8-0.html?mlpid=20656339

Unfortunately, you can buy the cases only at the bookstore.

The first day of class is Aug 23rd, when I also tell you about the class and other aspects that the syllabus and the information that you can gather do not cover.  Also, at our first meeting, you will receive a comprehensive set of lecture notes for the semester.

Every Breath Bernanke Takes

As I was surfing YouTube, I saw this very cleverly funny video. A link here.

WSJ explores the possible effects the recently discontinued interest rate increases could have on the markets

Finance Professor.com

Thank you for the warm welcome extended by FinanceProfessor.com. Yours is a great site and I enjoy reading your posts!

Time management

Academic and professional success is greatly aided by time management. Time management is a disciplined use of the only finite resource each of us have: time. Before the semester hits us fully, I list a few sites that offer some insight to successful time management. Even if you have excellent time management skills, reading through their suggestions adds value.

• A good, but somewhat dated, introductory treatment of time management gives the bare basics.
• Steve Pavlina has a personal development blog. Steve has an interesting writing style. He focuses on personal development and brings up examples from his own life to underline the point. This open perspective helps in explaining his view on personal development: you can change. Yet his writings are lengthy and sometimes he takes time to arrive to the point we know he tries to make. Nevertheless, his personal development web-log is an entertaining read and he often deals with the three interrelated areas of time management, productivity and goal setting.
• Merlin Mann – 43 folders – offers low tech solutions to time management problems. He and D*I*Y planner have thrown out their PDAs, Treos, and other electronic time manager gimmicks. Now, they either use 43 folders or paper based time management systems, such as the hipsterPDA and Moleskines.
• Other time management tools and ideas come from two similar sounding websites lifehack.org and lifehacker. Both sites focus on life quality improvement using small improvements in the daily grind (argh). Insert your favorite pirate joke here, because there argh. Both sites have a high geek quota, so non-geeks beware.

Enjoy!

A finance blog for class use

Finance class blog by Jim Mahar or FinanceProfessor.com focuses on class information for finance courses at St. Bonaventure. Interesting site with a lot of great ideas.

Textbook selection

The textbook I use this year, as in previous years, is Rocky Higgins‘ Analysis for Financial Management. The book is in iths 8th edition, which serves as evidence to the quality of the material. In less than 400 pages, the book provides an excellent background to financial management, the interpretation of financial statements and valuation of financial assets.

A reviewer on Amazon writes. “Analysis for Financial Management” is an excellent text that covers the major topics of financial management: how to evaluate and interpret financial statements, the tools a manager should use to forecast future earnings and manage growth, how to properly valuate businesses and investment opportunities, and so forth. This book is ideal if you are familiar with basic accounting and finance concepts but want a deeper understanding of finance in a corporate setting. Each chapter contains a recommended reading list for those who want a more thorough explanation and analysis of the topics covered. There is a website the author has put together that provides more examples and tools. Unlike other textbooks, this book actually has all the answers for exercises at the end of the chapters! Lastly, Higgins provides a number of examples and explains all the major concepts with a touch of humor. This is definitely one of the best books I’ve seen out there.”

For the best price, consult www.isbn.nu.