List of Sample Research Project Topics

1. Prepare an investment case study, similar to cases such as in “Cases in Investments,” by Moses, Kane, and Thompson, in one of the following areas:
• The investment environment
• Equity valuation
• Bond valuation
• Options, convertible bonds, and preferred stocks
• Portfolio management
• Stock price behaviour
2. The effect of merger or acquisition announcements on the stock prices of companies within an industry (such as utilities, banking, etc.).
3. The effect of corporate restructuring on stock prices.
4. The effect of earnings announcements on stock prices.
5. The effect of analysts’ buy/sell recommendations on stock prices.
6. The behaviour of IPO stock prices.
7. The before-and-after stock price behaviour of companies going through bankruptcy.
8. The stock price behaviour of high-dividend-yield stocks during bull and bear markets (such as pre- and post-Crash of 1987 or over the past few years up until today).
9. How mutual fund portfolio managers value stocks (fundamental / technical / quantitative).
10. Firm mortality: using stock price to predict the survival of a company.
11. The relationship between utility stock index returns and interest rates (is the utility stock index a leading indicator of interest rates?).
12. The relationship between the Value Line stock index and Value Line’s “Bond yield minus average earnings yield.”
13. The risks, returns, and correlation coefficients of foreign stock markets and the U.S. stock market.
14. The effect of option expiration on stock prices.
15. The relationship between utility stock price indices and bond price indices.
16. How do small corporations raise capital (venture capital private placements, IPOs, raising capital on the internet)?
17. Stock exchanges vs. the NASDAQ.
18. Raising capital on the internet, internet IPOs, and the impact of the internet on investment banking.