Investment Analysis An Introduction to Portfolio Theory and Management

This textbook is designed as a core text for finance courses that cover market investments, portfolio formation, and the management of investment portfolios. As such, the text seeks to convey insight and actual wisdom as to the nature of these activities. When combined with a commitment to thinking independently, the text offers the student a rigorous preparation for entry to the funds management industry. The text is presented in three parts. In Part A, the text introduces the fundamental techniques of investment analysis: a "bottom-up" and "top-down" analysis of the firm aimed at an evaluation of the underlying share as a "buy", "hold", or a "sell" recommendation. Part B offers the reader an intuitive grasp of the nature of investment growth, both across time and across assets. Part C introduces the reader to the technicalities of portfolio construction and portfolio management. The text concludes with an assessment of the funds management industry. The text builds in step-by-step stages with Illustrative Examples that consolidate the student’s progress and understanding through each chapter. Each of parts A, B, and C (above) has sufficient material to justify a separate course. If the student has exposure to a more foundational course in finance, Parts A and B can be covered as a single course. If from other courses, the student is familiar with the essence of Parts A and B and with statistical concepts, the text can be covered as a single course. The text can therefore be presented readily at either an undergraduate or postgraduate level at a pace appropriate to the student’s prior exposure to the concepts.

1. Introduction PART A Foundations of investment analysis 2. The valuation of equity shares: the P/E ratio 3. Shareholders’ required rate of return (the cost of equity capital) 4. Financial leverage: the value of the firm and the economic cycle 5. Accounting statements and ratio analysis PART B The nature of investment growth 6. The nature of growth (the exponential function) 7. Prediction of returns (the normal distribution) 8. Statistical relations for component assets 9. Growth over many periods 10. Growth with many assets PART C Principles of portfolio construction and management 11. Portfolio choice between risky and risk-free assets 12 A fundamental model of asset pricing and portfolio allocation 13 Fluctuations of opinion: stock mispricing 14 Portfolio algorithms 15 Institutional portfolio management 16 Conclusion and text review

Michael Dempsey is Professor of Finance at Ton Duc Thang University in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, having previously been Professor of Finance and Head of Finance at RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia. His personal web page can be found at dempseymichael.com.