FIN 4600
Securities Analysis and Portfolio Management

Spring 2005

Professor:

Timothy R. Mayes, Ph.D.

Office:

WC 247 F

e-mail:

mayest2@comcast.net or
mayest@mscd.edu

Phone:

303-556-3776 (office)

Class home page:
Book home page:

http://clem.mscd.edu/~mayest/
http://strong.swlearning.com/

Office
Hours:

Mon/Wed: 11:15 – 1:00
Tue/Thurs: 4:30 – 5:30

Available by
Appointment Only:

Mon: 1:00 – 3:00
Tue/Thurs: 3:00 – 4:30

Prerequisites:

FIN 3600 and senior standing. Prerequisites will be enforced. In addition to these prerequisites, students are expected to have good algebra and statistics skills.

Textbook:

Portfolio Construction, Management, & Protection, 3 rd ed. by Strong.

In addition, a subscription to the Wall Street Journal will be helpful since many of the topics discussed in class are illustrated daily in Journal articles.

Calculator

A financial calculator which can handle uneven cash flow streams is required. Any of the financial calculators from HP or TI will work fine. I have tutorials available for these calculators at: http://clem.mscd.edu/~mayest/calculators/calculator_tutorials_index.htm.

Purpose:

The purpose of this course is to introduce the student to the theory and practice of portfolio management. The course builds upon the material that was covered in FIN 3300 and FIN 3600. Specifically, we will cover efficient markets theory, modern portfolio theory, asset pricing models, portfolio management strategies, and portfolio performance evaluation.

Format:

The format of the course will be an interactive-lecture format. This means that students are expected to participate in class, and success in this course will depend on your studying the material before each class meeting. Class attendance is mandatory as some material not covered in the text will be presented. Homework is not collected, but students not attempting the end-of-chapter problems have historically done very poorly on exams.

Projects:

The Stock-Trak project is completely described in a document on my Web site for this course. Please read that document carefully. Trading begins on 7 February and ends on 29 April. In addition, you will have a beginning report due on 7 February and a final report is due on 4 May. The details of these reports will be available on the Web site before they are due.

Exams:

Each of the two exams will consist of several (usually 30 to 40) multiple-choice questions and a problem section where you must show your work. The final exam will be cumulative. Exams are curved such that the average grade is 75%. However, any scores below 50% are excluded from the calculation of the curve.

Students are expected to complete exams and projects at the scheduled times. Make-up exams will not be given except in extreme situations and with prior notification.

Grades:

10 March

Exam 1: Ch. 1-7, 19

40%

11 May

Exam 2 (final): Ch. 9, 11, 15,12, 13, 16, 20 and cumulative

40%

Stock-Trak Project and Participation

20%

Total

100%