ERIE COMMUNITY COLLEGE
TITLE III GRANT
STOCK PURCHASE COMPETITION:
PURCHASING STOCKS AND DETERMINING THEIR VALUE AT THE END OF A SPECIFIED PERIOD OF TIME.
YES, THERE ARE WINNERS!
Interdisciplinary Course Materials
Business Administration
COURSE: MT 001/MT 006
COURSE OUTLINE TOPICS:
· Perform basic computations with rational numbers.
· Apply the rules for rounding-off when stating answers.
· Present organized written work.
· Calculate the increase or decrease in financial decisions.
· Calculate the increase or decrease per stock purchase on a percentage basis and total percent increase or decrease.
· Read critically and think logically when making financial decisions.
· Being able to support decisions with a logical response.
· Compare numbers and percentages and rank the stock portfolio.
PROJECT TITLE: Stock Purchase Competition.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
How well can you pick stocks? This project is a competition to determine the student who makes the largest financial gain and the student who chooses the stock with the largest percentage increase over time. These two students will receive 10 bonus points on their lowest test score.
Each student will be ‘given’ $2000 to invest in to the stock market. The student will purchase 5 different stocks. After a time period designated by the teacher, the student will ‘sell’ their stock then calculate ‘how they did’. In other words, did they make money or lose money? What is their percentage increase/decrease in value for each stock and then their total return?
AUTHOR: Deborah Doucette, Mathematics
CURRICULUM EXPERT: Richard Rich, Business Administration
SEMESTER CREATED: Fall, 2009
A. ESSENTIAL QUESTION:
How are winning stocks chosen? Some analyze the company’s financial portfolio, some review the company’s stock history over a period of time, some pick stocks by a personal criteria – their TV advertisements, liking their products, the LOGO. Sometimes it’s just a gut feel or listening to an ‘expert’ and following their advice. Often, investors will choose stocks in different market places so that they have a diversified portfolio. How do you think you would do? Let’s find out.
B. INTRODUCTION:
To begin this project, everyone is given $2,000 in ‘play money’. Each student will be allowed to purchase 5 different company stocks listed in the stock section of the Buffalo News or USA Today. Each student invests the $2,000 with at most $10 remaining. Any student who has more than $10 left will be penalized at the end of the project by having $10 deducted from EACH holding’s ending balance.
C. THINGS TO LEARN BEFORE STARTING THE PROJECT:
Before starting this project, review the financial section of the Buffalo News and be familiar with the stock section. All purchases and sales will be based on the day’s closing stock price. On a specified day determined by the instructor, everyone will be asked to bring to class a Buffalo News.
D. BASIC DIRECTIONS:
Once the instructor has explained what the various columns mean in the stock section of the newspaper, each student will need to choose which stocks they are interested in purchasing and calculate the number of shares they will purchase. The $2,000 investment is to be comprised of 5 different companies. The total sum of these purchases must be between $1,990 - $2,000. Everyone’s purchase of their stock will be on the same date (the date of the class in which all students were asked to bring in a newspaper).
Table A, the stock purchase information, must be completed and handed in to the teacher at the next class meeting.
After a designated time period (8 – 10 weeks) determined by your teacher, the graded Table A will be handed back to each student. On this date, each student will ‘sell’ their stock. In order to record the profit or loss for each stock, the student will be asked to copy their data from Table A (The Purchase) on to the appropriate columns in Table B, The Sale. Table A must be handed back to the teacher. Table B should be completed at home and is due back to the teacher at the next class meeting.
E. PROJECT ASSIGNMENT:
Stock Competition Page 1
ICM Project
Name: ______Date of Purchase: ______
TABLE A – The Purchase
Complete this table at the beginning of this project and hand it in to your teacher at your next class period.
Company / Stock symbol / Purchase price/share / Number of shares purchased / Use this column to show the equation you use to calculate the value of your Purchase / $ amount of your Purchase / Explanation of why you chose this particular stock purchase
Total Amount Purchased: $
(Show your work)
(Make sure that you’re within $1990 - $2000 otherwise you’ll be penalized later)
Stock Competition Page 1
ICM Project
Name: ______Date of Sale: ______
TABLE B – The Sale
Copy the appropriate data from Table A and complete the table. Hand Table A back to your teacher.
Company Name and Symbol / Purchase price/share (refer to Table A) / Selling price/share (taken from today's newspaper) / Difference in price/share (selling price/share less purchase price/share). Show the subtraction equation / Number of shares purchased (refer to Table A) / Profit or Loss (total for Company). Round to hundredths place / If you were penalized $10/holding, what is the new balance (total for holding) / Percent increase or decrease for each holding (rounded to tenth of a percent), show the equation used / Rank your stocks from 1 - 5 with 1 as the best performer, based on the percentage change in valueStock Competition Page 1
ICM Project
How Did You Do?
Were you penalized because you did not invest your full amount (between $1,990 - $2,000)? Yes or No ______
Total Gain or Loss in your total investment (rounded to the nearest penny): ______
Show the work you used to obtain this gain or loss:
Percentage increase or decrease of your overall investment (rounded to the nearest tenth of a percent): ______
Show the work you used to obtain this percentage:
F. STUDENT RESOURCES:
Students will need a calculator and access to a newspaper and the internet (for the student if they want to research companies, this is optional).
G. FACULTY RESOURCES:
Faculty will need to have covered arithmetic operations, rounding and calculating the percentage increase or decrease of portfolio values, and copies of the NYSE stock quote pages from the newspaper of choice for both the opening date and closing date of the project.
H. GRADING RUBRIC:
Table A – The Purchase: Each entry is worth 1 point. The instructor will need to verify all of the information is correct and based on the specified day’s closing stock price.
Table B – The Sale: Each entry is worth 1 point. The instructor will have to verify the ‘selling’ price of the stock (based on the specified day’s closing stock price).
Stock Competition Page 1
ICM Project