Finance and Financial Management Commons^™

Strategic Decisions And Shareholder Value: An Analysis Of Conocophillips, Michael Miller

Accounting Undergraduate Honors Theses

Overview of strategic decisions that ConocoPhillips has made and the effect it has on shareholder value. Uses knowledge a basic investor would be equipped with to analyze the spin-off of ConocoPhillips and Phillips 66 by comparing it to Marathon Oil's spin-off and the returns it created for investors.

The Unjustified Subsidy: Sovereign Wealth Funds The Foreign Sovereign Tax Exemption, Jennifer Bird-Pollan

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

The taxation of Sovereign Wealth Funds in the United States is outmoded and due for reconsideration. Offering a tax exemption to the billion dollar investment funds owned by foreign governments is both unfair and ineffective. Founded in the principles of sovereign immunity, the foreign sovereign tax exemption, codified in I.R.C. § 892, fails to satisfy the Congressional goals that motivated its creation. This Article explains the current taxation of foreign sovereigns and, by extension, Sovereign Wealth Funds. It then illustrates that the current exemption is simultaneously too broad, providing a tax exemption for activities that are clearly nongovernmental activities, and …

Private Equity Investment In The Brics, Andreas Woeller

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

This Article investigates the legal and economic environment for private equity investments in Brazil, Russia, India and China (“BRIC”). In contrast with disappointing returns in the 1990s, private equity investment has soared in developing countries over the past decade. To explain what has led to the recent success of private equity in the BRICs, this Article will first give an overview of the challenges faced generally when investing in portfolio companies in developing markets and then analyze the legal and economic framework for each of the four BRICs. This Article finds that Brazil and China offer the best opportunities for …

Examining Capm In Today's Markets, David R. Knox

Honors Scholar Theses

The purpose of this work is to empirically assess the validity of the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) in terms of how can it model an equity’s return. The goal of this work is not to challenge the theory behind CAPM, nor compare it to alternatives, but simply to test whether or not it is applicable in the real world. This is an exploratory research study: rather than testing a specific hypothesis, my goal is to let the data speak for itself.

The main difficulty with assessing CAPM is that there is no consensus on how much data we ought …

Essays On The Dynamics Of Stock Returns In Emerging Markets: Roles Of Volatility And Sentiment In Turkey, Sidika Gülfem Bayram

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Emerging stock markets play an important role in portfolio diversification. Accurate depiction of their status is essential for potential investment assessment. This dissertation focuses on two important aspects of emerging markets using Istanbul Stock Exchange (“ISE”) as an example: modeling stock return volatility as a measure of risk and exploring potential interaction between stock returns and consumer/business sentiments. ISE is selected as it has no entry restrictions and offers great investment potential with 65% foreign participation.

The first essay focuses on stock return volatility. Potential asymmetric behavior is investigated by looking into how the ISE National-100 Index prices evolve over …

Crummer/Suntrust Portfolio Recommendations [2011], Ina Toderita, Daniel Parry, Jared Schneider, John Flatley, Kevin Ford, Neil Asma, Nicole Hession, Kevin Schnacke, Ronald Wensing, Jennifer Anderson, Homer Marshman, Michael Ackerman, Dean Walker, Ardit Bitincka, Thomas Biddinger

Crummer Truist Portfolios

The analysis of the current economic situation forecasts a favorable environment for growth for U.S. corporations. The desired asset class allocation distributes only the minimum to cover the fixed income and cash constraint; the rest of the portfolio is allocated to equities. Predicted economic growth means increased production and low interest rates will provide a favorable environment for U.S. corporations to grow earnings. In addition, low inflation will help keep costs low, allowing businesses to hold prices for their goods and services. Even though we believe U.S. consumers are not ready to pay higher prices due to continued high unemployment, …

Prospect Theory And The Financial Markets: A Review, Paulo Jose M. Mutuc

DLSU Business & Economics Review

The Prospect Theory as proposed by Kahneman and Tversky (1979) has emerged as a widely accepted theory of decision-making, thanks largely to the persistence of observed anomalies in the trading of financial products – specifically, the existence of an unusually large premium on equities, and the tendency to hold on to losing investments (disposition effect). Questions about the true nature and extent of reference-dependent loss aversion as manifested by these phenomena, however, remain. In particular, for countries like the Philippines with relatively shallow capital markets, there is a need to reconcile financial education and advice with the reality of systematically …

Collective Investments For Pension Savings: Lessons From Singapore's Central Provident Fund Scheme, Benedict S. Koh, Olivia S. Mitchell, Joelle H. Y. Fong

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Singapore's mandatory national defined contribution pension system permits participants to invest their retirement savings in a wide range of investment instruments if they wish, rather than leaving their savings in Central Provident Fund (CPF) accounts to earn interest rates by default. This article asks whether workers seeking to earn higher returns can expect to do better than the CPF-managed default, by moving their money into professionally managed unit trusts. We use historical data to investigate whether fund managers possess superior stock picking and market timing skills, as well as whether they exhibit persistence in performance and offer diversification benefits to …

Wheat Invest. A Compelling Business Case For Investment In The Western Australian Wheat Industry, Department Of Agriculture And Food, Western Australia

Farm Systems and Economics published reports

Western Australia (WA) is an ideal location for wheat production. It has competitive advantages including:

• A proven track record in wheat production accounting for approximately 50 per cent of Australia's production. Based on a five year average from 2003/04 to 2007/08*, WA produces around 7.7 million tonnes of wheat per year.

• Over the past five years, the top 25 per cent of farmers averaged 10 per cent return on capital excluding changes in land value.

• Export focussed due to WA's small population. 90 per cent of WA's wheat is exported

• Abundant land at competitive prices and …

Cost Structures In Defined Contribution Systems: The Case Of Singapore's Central Provident Fund, Benedict S. K. Koh, Olivia S. Mitchell, Joelle H. Y. Fong

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Retirement systems are increasingly asked to do an ever-better job of enhancing the performance of pension investments. The Singaporean Central Provident Fund permits pension system participants to keep their money in a government-run investment pool, or if they wish, they may select professionally managed unit trusts for their retirement accumulations. Opting for investment choice also exposes members to additional investment costs not charged by the government-managed account. This paper explores the charges levied by the private fund managers and we show that foreign ownership, active style of management and equity/balanced funds tend to be most expensive. We conclude with a …

Is Fed Policy Still Relevant For Investors?, C. Mitchell Conover, Gerald R. Jensen, Robert R. Johnson, Jeffrey M. Mercer

Finance Faculty Publications

Using 38 years of data, we show that U.S. monetary policy has had, and continues to have, a strong relationship with security returns. Specifically, we find that U.S. stock returns are consistently higher and less volatile during periods when the Federal Reserve is following an expansive monetary policy. Further, firms considered to be more sensitive to changes in monetary conditions, such as small firms and cyclicals, exhibit monetary-policy-related return patterns that are much more pronounced than average. Lastly, the influence of U.S. monetary policy is shown to be a global phenomenon, as international indices have return patterns similar to those …

The Effects Of Asset Allocation And Active Management On Total Return Of Managed Funds, Florian Halili

Business and Economics Honors Papers

Portfolio managers are charged with maximizing returns for a given level of risk. There are practical problems that arise in creating an efficient portfolio and maintaining a target level of risk and return. This paper will identify two important factors that a manager needs to address in creating and managing a portfolio. The first step in creating a portfolio should be the establishment of the structure of the portfolio or the portfolio policy, what asset classes it holds and in what proportions. The structure of the portfolio is the main factor that shows how a portfolio is exposed to risk. …

Reconsidering Gender And Investment In The Intrahousehold Decision-Making Process, Lin Johnson Iii

University Avenue Undergraduate Journal of Economics

In the very recent past, the economics of the household and the economics of development appear to be edging toward a new convergence of concern around the nature and use of assets. However, these two literatures of economics continue to exist in separate spheres. I draw from both bodies of literature in order to examine gender differences in asset portfolios. I find systematic differences in the way that certain assets held by husbands versus wives influence household decision outcomes. A clear understanding of the nature and functions of various types of assets in hands of husbands and wives is necessary …

Participating Gics: Performance Attribution Analysis, Alec Stais, John P. Toohey Iii

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993–2006)

The increasing popularity of participating GICs has created a need for an objective understanding of their performance. The fixed income attribution techniques are not adequate for measuring participating GIC performance because they typically restrict performance measurement to concepts such as duration management, sector rotation, and issue selection. We develop an attribution technique based on four components or effects that are helpful in explaining the changes in credited rates. They are the constant duration effect, the reinvestment effect, the cash flow effect, and the investment effect. The underlying mathematical approach to calculating these effects is presented along with examples.

A Pension Plan Incorporating Both Defined Benefit And Defined Contribution Principles, Zaki M. Khorasanee

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993–2006)

We propose a defined contribution pension plan with an explicitly defined benefit formula. Such a plan is expected to pay more stable and predictable benefits over time than one based on the money purchase principle. The properties of the plan are investigated through simulation. Methods for distributing surpluses and eliminating deficiencies that involve adjusting the rate of benefit accrual (rather than varying the rate of contribution) are discussed. The behavior of the plan under a scenario of persistently unfavorable investment experience is Simulated, and methods for satisfactorily dealing with such a scenario are considered. The plan actuary is expected to …

Central Bank Of Nigeria Statistical Bulletin, June 1991, Central Bank Of Nigeria

CBN Statistical Bulletin

The financial statistics section offers comprehensive data on various financial subsectors, including money and banking, financial markets, non-bank financial institutions, and public finance statistics. Key areas covered include data consolidation of commercial and merchant banks, liquidity ratios, cash reserves, loan/deposit ratios, and credit distribution. Clearing house statistics provide information on volume of transactions within the commercial banking system and the number and value of cheques cleared. Financial markets provide information on new issues, treasury securities, money market assets, Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) transactions, and government debt instruments. Public finance statistics include federal government revenue and expenditure, sources such as oil, …

Investment Planning Model For Optimum Allocation Of Natural Gas: A Programming Approach, V Ranganathan, R Ramanathan

IIMB Management Review

Natural gas has been recognised for a long time as a primary source in most of the developed countries. However, the developing countries like India did not realisethe full potential in this area till reeently. This is all the more appalling since natural gas seems to be India’s predominant hydrocarbon resources. As per the Advisory Board on Energy, in 1976, an Indo-Soviet geological study team had concluded that 75% of India’s ultimate hydro-carbon reserves were in the form of natural gas.