Porsche Canada wants to encourage their Canadian customers to drive their cars in winter. The prize is increased sales of cars (by consumers currently unwilling to buy a Porsche only for summer driving) and winter accessories, such as snow tires. This is a three-fold challenge because Canadians generally believe that luxury vehicles should not be driven in winter due to to ice and salt; that sports cars generally performed poorly in winter conditions; .....more

Credit Default Swaps (CDS) are derivative instruments that allow investors protection against credit events such as downgrades of or defaults by single-name or a basket of obligors. Estimated by the Band of International Settlements to be at $32.6 trillion in December 2009, these instruments represent one of the largest and fastest growing financial product markets globally. This note is intended to introduce students to CDS, the pricing basics .....more

With stock markets in major decline, Rudy Wong, an investment advisor for a wealth management firm had to decide how best to reassure each of his clients in upcoming meetings: by communicating logical arguments based on his portfolio management expertise and analysis, or by managing emotions and attempting to re-establish his clients' faith in the markets. He also needed to re-examine the investment strategy he had developed for each client and .....more

A professor is considering buying a new car and is evaluating two models, one with air conditioning and a comfort package, the other with no extras. The two cars are relatively close in price but still above his initial budget, and he is wondering how much he might be able to negotiate the price. A factor that complicates the matter is that the car with the comfort package has a lower interest rate. The professor therefore needs to understand what .....more

In October 2008, the manager of client services at Duckworth Asset Management Inc. (Duckworth), an investment firm headquartered in St. John’s, Newfoundland, was preparing for a briefing with Duckworth’s vice-president of investments. The vice-president had been fielding several phone calls in the past few weeks, all from clients concerned about the significant drop in global financial markets. Since its June 2008 peak, Canada’s S&P/TSX had .....more

This case provides a means to illustrate enterprise valuation analysis questions such as: 1) Given a stock price, what is the implied value attributable to the operating business? 2) Given a valuation multiple for an operating business, what is the implied target stock price? In addition, the case 1) illustrates how arbitrage acts to enforce the law of one price and keep markets efficient 2) provides a model case to understand why stocks can become .....more

The founder and sole shareholder of a financial planning company must decide whether to hire a new advisor or purchase a block of business from another financial planner. Students are asked to perform an industry analysis, a corporate size-up and consumer analysis. Students are also required to complete a statement of cash flows, a financial ratio analysis and a differential analysis. Students must design a marketing plan and prepare projected .....more

An analyst at IGM Financial (IGM) is asked to make a presentation outlining the final details of the proposed acquisition of Saxon Financial (Saxon). The analysis was to include the strategic rationale for the acquisition, an estimate of the proposed offering price for Saxon and whether or not the acquisition would be accretive to earnings per share of IGM. To complete the assignment the analyst had to calculate a preliminary valuation range based .....more

The chairman of Taiwan-based Polaris Securities Co. Ltd. (Polaris Securities), announced approval of Polaris’ investment plans in Singapore, Vietnam and Abu Dhabi. The chairman’s name was known in Taiwan as synonymous with innovation and entrepreneurship. He had experienced great success in launching an information technology strategy and related complementary assets for online stock trading and online transactions. With a prominent performance, the .....more

The chairman of Taiwan-based Polaris Securities Co. Ltd. (Polaris Securities), announced approval of Polaris’ investment plans in Singapore, Vietnam and Abu Dhabi. The chairman’s name was known in Taiwan as synonymous with innovation and entrepreneurship. He had experienced great success in launching an information technology strategy and related complementary assets for online stock trading and online transactions. With a prominent performance, .....more