Students shall be able to do the following:

Knowledge

• Describe the essential tools of an equity analyst, including capital market concepts, financial statement analysis, financial planning and valuation methods
• Outline the main steps of financial planning and corporate valuation
• Specify the top down approach to financial planning/forecasting
• Discuss differences as well as pros and cons between discounted cash flow based models and relative valuations
• Explain one-stage and multiple-stage valuation models
• List and illustrate the impact of the most relevant macroeconomic drivers of corporate valuation

Skills

• Derive a forecast of a company's future financial statements based on reported financial data and on external assumptions
• Apply one-stage and multiple-stage discounted cash flow model
• Construct risk-adjusted discount rates
• Use earnings-, book value-, revenue-based and sector-specific multiples to perform a relative valuation of a company
• Derive theoretically justified multiples based on company fundamentals
• Implement planning and valuation procedures in spreadsheets
• Analyze the expected impact of macroeconomic factors on corporate valuations

Competencies

• Independently analyze and value a potential equity investment
• Identify the key drivers in the valuation of a company
• Systematically derive an investment recommendation
• Analyze and challenge proposals by others and identify the key drivers leading to the given investment recommendation

• The Purpose of Equity Analysis
• Financial Statement Analysis
• Financial Planning and Forecasting
• Valuation
• Macroeconomic Aspects of Equity Analysis

Brown, Keith C., Reilly, Frank K. (2009): Analysis of Investments and Management of Portfolios, 9thedition, South-Western

Damodaran, Aswath (2002): Investment Valuation, 2ndedition, New York: John Wiley

Benninga, Simon (2008): Financial Modelling, 3rd edition, Cambridge: MIT Press