Assessment 05.04 Investment: Purchasing Stocks You are about to research some actual stock prices of your own. But, you have a choice to make! Would you like to learn how one of your favorite companies has been performing in the past week? Or, would you prefer to find out how much money could have been earned if your parent(s) or guardian(s) had made an investment on the date of your birth? Get ready to have some fun!

Option 1: Research Recent Stock History

It's time to invest some virtual money of your own! To begin, choose one of the companies below in which to invest.

The Coca-Cola® Company

IBM® Corporation

McDonald's® Corporation

Nike® Inc.

Wal-Mart® Stores, Inc.

The Walt Disney® Company

Part I: Research

Visit www. nyse. com and search for the company you chose.
Provide the following information on the company's most recent business day's

transactions.

today's date

company name

ticker symbol

the highest stock price for the previous 52 weeks

the lowest stock price for the previous 52 weeks

annual dividend payment, if applicable

the return on the dividend

price to earnings ratio

the number of shares traded

highest stock price paid

lowest stock price paid

closing price

the change in price from the previous day's closing (expressed as a decimal)
Part II: Calculations

Research the closing stock prices for the past week.

List the closing stock price for all five business days.

Imagine you purchased 75 shares of this stock on Day 1 and sold all of those shares on Day 3. What is the return on your investment? Show your work.
If you had sold all of the stock on Day 5 instead of Day 3, what is the difference between the return on your investment? Show your work.

Part III: Analysis

Using the information found in your research and calculations, answer the following questions in complete sentences.

Is it better to sell the stock on Day 3 instead of Day 5? Why or why not?

Ideally, when would you like to sell these shares? Day 3? Day 5? or longer than five days? When developing your response, consider the trend for the stock in the last five days and what could potentially happen in the days ahead.

Would you advise others to invest in this company? Why or why not? Answer the following questions to help guide your response.

Do you believe investor confidence is high or low in the company? Why?

Do you believe there is a high or low demand for the company's product? Why?

How would the state of the economy today affect someone purchasing this company's product?