FIN 502

Introduction to Financial Valuation

Lecturer: Carmen Stefanescu

 Contact

 Email:
 carmens@ualberta.ca
 Subject line: Fin502

 Office: 1-23A

 Office hours:
 Mondays 1:00-2:30PM (A1)
 Tuesdays 4:30-6:00PM (X01)
 by appointment

 Class schedule: no class on October 6th (for section X01) to ensure

synchronicity of the two sections.

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 Objective

 The course is intended to provide a framework for analyzing the

major types of financial decisions made by corporations.

 Analyze major types of financial decisions made by corporations.

 Understand discounted cash flow techniques in valuing financial
assets and capital budgeting projects
 Incorporate various measures of risk into the analysis
 Use of of derivate securities such as financial options and futures

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Textbook

3rd Canadian Edition

Berk, DeMarzo and Stangeland

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Course Web Pages

All material will be posted on Blackboard

aka

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 Main topics

 Introduction (Corporations, Financial Statements, Financial Decisions)

 The Time Value of Money

 Valuing Bonds
 Valuing Stocks

 NPV and Alternative Investment Rules

 Capital Budgeting

 Risk, Return and Capital Markets

 Portfolio Choice
 The Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM)
 Market efficiency

 Options, Forward and Futures Contracts

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Grading

% of total grade
Five assignments (4% each) 20%
Mid-term (two hours) 30%
Final (three hours) 40%
Participation 10%
Total 100%

No other marks available

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 Grading

 Assignments
 Group work and 2 weeks each assignment
 Hard copy submission; Late submissions marked with zero

 Mid-term (two hours)

 one double-sided 8½×11 inch "cheat sheet“ (handwritten)

 Final (three hours) not cumulative

 If miss midterm for legitimate reasons, transfer weight to final
 If miss final exam for legitimate reasons, deferred exam in Jan 2015
 No early exams
 Two double-sided 8½×11 inch "cheat sheet“ (handwritten)

 Participation
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