15.535  Business Analysis Using Financial Statements

Course Evaluation Link

http://web.mit.edu/subjectevaluation

Please take a few minutes at your convenience and fill in a course evaluation. I am always very interested in getting feedback and hearing about ways to improve the course. Thanks.

Announced on 08 May 2014  11:32  a.m. by Christopher Francis Noe

Quiz 2

Hey All,

Congrats on a very nice job on Quiz 2. Here is the usual breakdown:

Median: 54
Mean: 51
P75: 57
P25: 47

As always, please keep in mind that these quizzes are worth just 15% of your grade, meaning that a large amount of the final grade will depend on the quality of your project. Furthermore, if you don’t have a quiz back yet in your mailbox, you may have forgotten to put your name on the quiz or may not have a mailbox. I’ll bring those quizzes to class on Wednesday. We look forward to next week’s presentations!

Best,

Peter and Tom

Announced on 06 May 2014  5:14  p.m. by Thomas Max Samuelson

Final Project Logistics

I wanted to let everyone know what the logistics will be for final project deliverable next week.
1.) A single hard copy of your team’s project write-up is due at the beginning of class on Monday May 12.
2.) A single electronic copy of your team’s presentation slides is due at NOON on Monday May 12. This applies to both sections because I will have all presentations loaded on my computer in advance to minimize transition time between presentations. Please email the slides to me and the TAs.
3.) Teams will be selected at random to present with no advance notice so all teams must be prepared first thing on the May 12.
4.) Presentations are 6-8 minutes in length with a few minutes after for questions. Do not try to summarize your entire write-up in this time. Just provide one or two unique insights about your company along with a buy/sell/hold recommendation.
5.) Presentations are not graded, but we will still be recording class participation for questions and comments. Not all team members are required to say something during presentations. For example, teams can designate a single person to present.
6.) If you are a team split across sections, the section with the most people will be where you present. If class conflicts prevent everyone from attending, that is fine.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me or the TAs.
Thanks.

Announced on 05 May 2014  4:09  p.m. by Christopher Francis Noe

New Century Case Discussion

If anybody wants to volunteer to assist in answering one or more of the questions for tomorrow's case, just send me an email. Thanks.

Announced on 04 May 2014  12:42  p.m. by Christopher Francis Noe

New Century Case Questions (OPTIONAL WRITE-UP) - Monday May 5

I have decided to make our last case write-up optional! For project teams that choose to turn in a write-up, I will drop your lowest case grade of the semester. Whether you do a write-up or not, you are still responsible for preparing the case for discussion.
Questions for New Century Case:
1.) What was New Century’s business model? What were the primary risks faced by New Century?
2.) Describe in words how New Century accounts for the different ways it treats a mortgage? How were the primary risks faced by New Century reflected in its financial statements?
3.) Why did New Century fail?
Case write-ups should be no more than 1-2 typed pages, along with any supporting exhibits. Case write-ups are due at the beginning of class on the due date. Project teams can turn in a single write-up but all team members should be prepared to discuss the write-up in class.

Announced on 30 April 2014  10:19  a.m. by Christopher Francis Noe