MBA 706 Master Syllabus

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MBA 706: Investment Analysis Master Syllabus

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Course Website: Canvas

Course Description

This course is about portfolio management and asset pricing. The material focuses on institutional investing, although the course is also relevant for individuals. The class aims to provide an understanding of strategies and risk management tools necessary for the management of fixed income and equity portfolios. In particular, the class material covers asset allocation, risk and return trade-offs, diversification, asset pricing, portfolio performance evaluation, and the theory of market efficiency. 

Program Outcomes

After completing the program, learners will be able to: 

  1. Teaming & Leading: Our graduates will demonstrate the team leadership and interpersonal skills needed to form, lead, and work effectively in diverse organizational teams. 
  2. Analytical Decision Making: Our students will demonstrate the ability to analyze uncertain complex management situations using appropriate tools, techniques and information systems for decision-making.
  3. Knowledge of Functional Business Disciplines: Our graduates will demonstrate the ability to integrate knowledge from all functional areas of business into a meaningful firm-level perspective. 
  4. Global Understanding: Our graduates will demonstrate a perspective on how businesses operate in the global environment.
  5. Communication Skills: Our graduates will demonstrate written, oral and presentation skills necessary to explain problems and solutions effectively and persuasively. 
  6. Ethics and Social Responsibility: Our graduates will have a sense of professional and social responsibility in the conduct of managerial affairs.

Course Objectives

  1. Evaluate and explain the risk and return trade-offs in finance. 
  2. Identify components, strategies, and techniques utilized in portfolio management and asset pricing. 
  3. Apply tools and strategies to reduce risk within a portfolio by means of diversification, portfolio optimization, and efficient frontier estimation. 
  4. Make decisions on which assets would contribute to a well-diversified portfolio in order to achieve a desired rate of return.  
  5. Conduct research necessary to construct, manage, and evaluate equity fixed income portfolios and evaluate their performance. 
  6. Manage a portfolio by performing asset allocation, security selection, and performance evaluation tasks.
  7. Interpret investor preferences and evaluate their choices based on their attitude toward risk.

Course Methodology

This eight week online course is centered around a portfolio project which is divided into five parts. Each week you will have an opportunity to review articles, videos, and other additional resources that will guide your learning. As you begin the course, you will be placed into a group in which you will work collaboratively with your colleagues to accomplish putting together a successful portfolio project. The format of this course is asynchronous but you are welcome to connect with your instructor by appointment or via the question and answer forum. 

Textbooks

Required Textbook: Bodie, Zvi, Alex Kane, and Alan Marcus, 2018, Investments , 11th ed., (McGraw-Hill/Irwin). ISBN-13: 978-1259277177. 

Computer Requirements

See Costello College of Business laptop policy. 

Participation 

Participation in this course will be via your group work and individual assignments. You will be expected to participate fully with your classmates in your group activities and meetings. Active participation is vital to this course and your skill development and investment analysis. Be sure to check blackboard often and your school email for announcements. Turning in your assignments on time is also considered an important part of active participation. Be active and involved in your learning as it will benefit you throughout this course. 

Mason Honor Code 

The Honor System and Code 

George Mason is an Honor Code university; all students are responsible for knowing and following the George Mason Honor Code Statement: “Student members of the George Mason University community pledge not to cheat, plagiarize, steal, or lie in matters related to academic work.” In the event of a violation of the George Mason Honor Code, the violating student will be reported to the George Mason Honor Committee. When in doubt (of any kind), please ask the instructor for guidance and clarification. 

The recommendations for honor code violations for all graduate students adopted by the School of Business faculty in April 2019 are as follows: 

Type of Violation: Plagiarism, lying, cheating on an assignment, homework, or including other’s work as your own 

  • First Offense: An F in the class 
  • Second Offense: An F in the class and dismissal from program 

Type of Violation: Egregious Violation [e.g., stealing an exam; passing on confidential course material; cheating on an exam, project, or otherwise violating specified rules for an exam or project; etc.]

  • First Offense: An F in the class and dismissal from program 
  • Second Offense: An F in the class and dismissal from program 

School of Business Standards of Behavior

The mission of the School of Business at George Mason University is to create and deliver high quality educational programs and research. Students, faculty, staff, and alumni who participate in these educational programs contribute to the well-being of society. High quality educational programs require an environment of trust and mutual respect, free expression and inquiry, and a commitment to truth, excellence, and lifelong learning. Students, program participants, faculty, staff, and alumni accept these principles when they join the community. In doing so, they agree to abide by the following standards of behavior: 

  • Respect for the rights, differences, and dignity of others 
  • Honesty and integrity in dealing with all members of the community
  • Accountability for personal behavior 

Integrity is an essential ingredient of a successful learning community. Ethical standards of behavior help promote a safe and productive community environment, and ensure every member the opportunity to pursue excellence. The Mason School of Business can and should be a living model of these behavioral standards. To this end, community members have a personal responsibility to integrate these standards into every aspect of their experience at the School of Business. Through our personal commitment to these Community Standards of Behavior, we can create an environment in which all can achieve their full potential.

Email 

I will regularly send electronic messages to the entire class via Canvas. Thus, be sure you check the Canvas site frequently or arrange for mail sent to your George Mason email account to be forwarded to whatever e-mail account you normally use. You are fully responsible for taking the steps listed above, for checking your email regularly, and for any information communicated to the class via email. 

Disability

If you have a documented learning disability or other condition that may affect academic performance you should: 

Please keep in mind that all academic accommodations must be arranged through the ODS. 

Counseling Center

George Mason University has a counseling center that can provide assistance if you find yourself overwhelmed by life, want training in academic or life skills, or the like. More information is available at the Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) website.

Notice of Mandatory Reporting of Sexual Assault, Interpersonal Violence and Stalking 

As a faculty member, I am designated as a “Responsible Employee,” and must report all disclosures of sexual assault, interpersonal violence, and stalking to Mason’s Title IX Coordinator per University Policy 1412. You may seek assistance from George Mason’s Title IX Coordinator, Jennifer Hammat, by calling (703) 993-8730 or email cde@gmu.edu. If you wish to speak with someone confidentially, please contact one of Mason’s confidential resources, such as Student Support and Advocacy Center (SSAC) at (703) 993-3686 or Counseling and Psychology Services (CAPS) at (703) 993-2380. The 24-hour Sexual and Intimate Partner Violence Crisis Line for George Mason is (703) 380-1434. 

Writing

George Mason University has a writing center that can help you improve your English writing skills. More information is available at The Writing Center. 

Inclement Weather and Campus Emergencies

Information regarding weather related changes in the University’s schedule (e.g., closing or late opening) will be provided on the George Mason website and via MasonAlert. 

Course Grading & Evaluation

As a general overview of the grading for this course, some of your assignments will be submitted as a group (Presentation) while most of your contributions will be made individually (Written Analysis and Discussion Responses). Here is a high level breakdown of what you can expect below. Please note the importance of your Individual Case Analysis, your written assignments will be a significant portion of your grade. 

Grading Categories 

  • Administrative and Participation 10% 
  • Problem Sets (Individual) 30% 
  • Project Portfolio (Group) 60% 

Overall Grading Scheme for Final Grade

Grade Range
A 94-100
A- 90-93
B+ 87-89
B 84-86
B- 80-83
C 70-79
F 69 and Below

Administrative and Participation 10% 
The administrative and participation aspects of the course include the following: an introduction during the first week of the class to get to know your classmates, a syllabus acknowledgment quiz to make sure that you've had an opportunity to review all the details of the syllabus, two peer evaluation's and one reflection assignment. 

Problem Sets (Individual) 30% 
The problem sets will help you build your skills in computing various measures of return on multi year investments, estimating the investors utility, identifying and investors optimal choice amongst risky portfolios, calculating portfolio variance, estimating the weights of minimum variance portfolios, tracing the efficient frontier, and identifying the best optimal portfolio. Each of the problem set assignments are to be completed abd submitted individually. 

Project Portfolio (Group) 60% 
Your portfolio project is the largest part of your grade and the most important part of this course. It is divided into five parts and to be completed in collaboration with your group members. 

The first part of your portfolio project will challenge you to practice collecting, computing, and manipulating data from online sources. You will use real data to complete the assignment. 

The second part of your portfolio project will help you in evaluating individual risk aversion. You will begin by completing a questionnaire to understand your own aversion to risk. 

In the third part of the portfolio assignment you will estimate the efficient frontier of risky assets and use Markowitz optimization using the excel solver. 

The fourth part of your portfolio project you will use regression analysis to estimate the cabin data and construct the securities market line (SML). You will also be applying a dividend discount model to expected return and assess whether a security is above (undervalued) or below (overvalued) the SML. 

The fifth and final part of your portfolio project will have you comparing portfolio returns with a benchmark. You will compute the asset allocation (market timing) and securities selection contribution to the return of your portfolio. You will estimate a number of performance measures such as Jensen alpha, information ratio, Treynor measure, and the Sharpe ratio.

Your portfolio project submissions should include graphs, tables, and detailed explanation of your results. Work closely with your group members to provide specific and concise answers to the questions you are asked to answer. 

Consult the Portfolio Project Rubric for specific details regarding grading for your portfolio project. 

Portfolio Project Rubric

  Needs Improvement Fair Good Excellent
Calculations (25%) Only some calculations are accurate and/or excess ambiguity exists in either steps taken to arrive at mathematical answers and/or methods selected to find solutions. Most calculations performed with adequate accuracy but ambiguity exists in calculations. More precise and/or detailed execution needed. Most/majority of calculations performed with accuracy and completeness. Steps are conveyed in a sufficient manner. Little or no ambiguity in mathematical calculations. All calculations performed with accuracy and completeness. All steps are conveyed to arrive at solutions. No ambiguity in mathematical calculations and/or steps taken. 
Technical Presentation (25%) Graphs and/or tables may be inaccurate and/or not informative. Graphing/display needs some of the following: title, proper styles and coloring, axis magnitudes, tick values/marks, x-label, y-label, annotation text, and points on the graph/table.  Graphs and/or tables are somewhat accurate and informative. Graphing/display includes some of the following: title, proper styles and coloring, axis magnitudes, tick values/marks, x-label, y-label, annotation text, and points on the graph/table.  Graphs and/or tables are accurate and informative. Graphing/display includes most of the following: title, proper styles and coloring, axis magnitudes, tick values/marks, x-label, y-label, annotation text, and points on the graph/table.  Graphs and/or tables are highly accurate and informative. Graphing/display includes title, proper styles and coloring, axis magnitudes, tick values/marks, x-label, y-label, annotation text, and points on the graph/table. 
Technical Explanations (25%) Interpretation of results in written format is only somewhat conveyed. Calculations, graphs, takeaways, and/or strategic or mathematical relationships may be ambiguous in explanations provided.  Interpretation of results in written format is mostly conveyed. Calculations, graphs, takeaways, and/or strategic or mathematical relationships can be mostly understood from explanations provided.  Interpretation of results in written format is mostly conveyed. Calculations, graphs, takeaways, and/or strategic or mathematical relationships can be mostly understood from explanations provided.  Interpretation of results in written format is very clearly conveyed. Calculations, graphs, takeaways, and/or strategic or mathematical relationships can be distinctly understood from explanations provided. 
Overall Presentation and Strategy (25%) Recommendations provided and strategic importance of the assignment is not clearly conveyed in the assignment submission. Evidence provided and connections are either not attempted or not clearly made between calculations and/or theory to provide practical application for investors to utilize. Recommendations provided and strategic importance of the assignment is mostly available in assignment submission. Evidence and connections are made and/or attempted between calculations and/or theory to practical application for investors to utilize.  Recommendations provided and strategic importance of the assignment is available in the assignment submission. Evidence is and connections can be made between calculations and/or theory to practical application for investors to utilize.  Recommendations provided and strategic importance of the assignment is well crafted and on display in the assignment submission. Evidence is provided and connections are clearly made from calculations and/or theory to practical application for investors to utilize. 

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