Equity Analysis and Investments Strategies
Duration: 2 days
- Equity Markets and Instruments
- Sector and Region Analysis
- Financial Statement Analysis for Investment Decisions
- Equity Investment Strategies
- Portfolio Strategies and Diversification
- Implementing Equity Investment Strategies with Derivatives
The objective of this seminar is to give you a thorough introduction to equity markets and
instruments, and a good understanding of how equity investment strategies can be formulated and
implemented in practice.
We start with a general introduction to equity instruments, and we explain how shares and related
instruments are traded and settled in the primary and secondary markets. We then look at the
regional and sector-specific factors that commonly affect share value, and we explain how factor
models can be used to quantify the effects of (changes in) such factors as growth, inflation,
commodity prices.
Further, we present and thoroughly explain methods for fundamental stock analysis, covering the
entire valuation process through the final investment recommendation or decision. We also explain
how information about an individual firm’s financial health, profitability, growth prospects etc.
can be extracted from the firm’s financial statements and combined into useful ratios and
multiples. We discuss possible shortcomings of such ratios, including the problems arising from the
use of different accounting principles and “financial shenanigans”.
We devote a significant part of the seminar to explain how the results from equity analysis can be
used for the design of investment strategies that are consistent with investors’ views, preferences
and constraints. We present quantitative tools for portfolio management and we explain how
diversified/optimized portfolios can be constructed. We also present and explain the benchmark
timing and core-satellite approaches to portfolio construction. Further, we present and discuss
relative value strategies such as Value/Growth, Regional/Sector, Long only/ Long and Short etc.
Finally, we explain how these investments and portfolio strategies can be implemented in practice,
using cash instruments, derivatives and structured products. We explain in detail how synthetic
indexation strategies, CPPI, leveraged investment strategies etc. can be designed and implemented,
and we illustrate with practical examples and case studies.
Day One
09.00 - 09.15 Welcome and Introduction
09.15 - 12.00 Equity Markets and Instruments
- Characteristics of Equity Instruments
- Global Equity Markets
- Equity Funds
- ETF’s
- Equity Derivatives
- Hybrid Equity Instruments and Structured Products
- Alternative Equity Investments (Hedge Funds, Private Equity)
Sector and Region Analysis
-
Equity Sectors/Regions and their Behaviour
- Basic materials, consumer cyclical, consumer stable, …
- US, Asian, European, Emerging markets
- How sectors/regions behave under changing economic conditions
-
Using Factor Models in Sector Analysis
- Economic vs. statistical factor models
- Quantifying sector returns
- Risk/return decomposition using variance decomposition technique
- Estimating factor loadings and factor sensitivities
- Exercises
12.00 - 13.00 Lunch
13.00 - 16.30 Financial Statement Analysis
- Brief Review of Financial Statements
- Analysis of Assets, Liabilities and Cash Flows (Brief Review)
-
Financial Ratios and EPS Analysis
- Common-size statements
- Measures of a company’s liquidity
- Ratios for operating performance, risk profile, growth potential, and external
liquidity
- Relationships between financial ratios and rating
- Decomposing return on equity using traditional/extended DuPont Systems
- Treatment of dilutive securities
- Financial Shenanigans
- Exercises
Equity Investment Strategies
-
Quantitative Tools for Equity Investing
- Brief recap of equity valuation techniques, CAPM and other models
- The “Alpha” concept - forecasting and analysis
Day Two
09.00 - 09.15 Brief recap
09.15 - 12.00 Equity Investment Strategies (continued)
-
Style Management and Style Allocation
- Value vs. growth investing
- Information ratios for different styles
-
Portfolio Optimization
- Traditional mean/variance optimization
- Optimization under shortfall risk constraints
- Benchmark-relative optimization
- Bayesian analysis and portfolio choice
- International Diversification
- Core-Satellite Investing
-
Short-selling
- How short-selling works in practice
- Risks of short-selling
- Portable Alpha
-
Equity Strategies
- Market neutral and relative value strategies
- Long-short strategies
- Sector rotation vs. pairs trades
- Statistical and fundamental arbitrage
- Exercises
12.00 - 13.00 Lunch
13.00 - 16.00 Implementing Equity Investment Strategies with Derivatives
- Overview of Equity Derivatives
-
Synthetic Equity Investments
- Minimizing cash drag through synthetic indexation strategies
- “Sector-switching” with futures
- Equitizing a Long/Short Strategy
- Using Futures to Create “Overlays”
-
Equity Portfolio Management with Options
- Securing minimum portfolio value
- Enhancing portfolio return/reducing risk through covered call strategies
- Management of shortfall-risk
- Implementing CPPI and other Dynamic Strategies with Futures
-
Using Structures Products in Portfolio Management
- Leveraged structures
- Principal protected structures
- Discount structures
- Exercises
Evaluation and Termination of the Seminar
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