Analysis Report: Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC)

Writing assignment: Analyst report
Stocks to evaluate (pick one): 
1.NIO Inc2.Moderna Inc3.T-Mobile4.Tesla5.FirstEnergy 6.Bank of America7.Macy’s Inc8.Starbuucks
The report should include: 1. Highlight/conclusion (always comes first): a very brief summary of your analysis, main events, and your recommendations (2-4 sentences).  Recommendations range: sell/hold/buy/strong buyOptional: Provide a target price. The market price that you think is fair for the company. If you choose to do so, you will need to provide some supporting analysis. 2. Brief description of the company and its business3. Recent developments (annual/quarterly performance; major events, such as acquisitions of another company, meeting/falling short of/exceeding market expectations, launching of a new line of business/brand, expansion to another country, change in management/board, etc.)4. A table of a firm’s financial indicators (share price, company size, historical performance (sales, profits, EPS, P/E), as well as additional financial information you may find relevant). You also need to discuss this financial information in the text of your report 5. Comparison of the firm’s  past, current and future operations to relevant competitors (2-4 other firms). In your analysis, refer to financial performance and other indicators (present them as a chart/table).a. When comparing to other companies, check if there are industry-specific indicators relevant to your company (for example, sales per square foot, number of subscribers, internet traffic, production output per oil well, number of patents granted, number of drugs in the pipeline, etc.). b. It is not enough just to provide a table with competitor information. You need to write at least a few sentences in the report about how your company compares to main competitors
6. SWOT analysis (it’s OK to present it as a list of bullet points). This does not need to be long.a. Strengths: factors that distinguish the company from competitors and affect future growth b. Weaknesses: disadvantages of the company compared to competitors, which may impair future c. Opportunities: potential projects that a company can take advantage of in significantly improving its operations (developing an exclusive patent or drug; winning a customer satisfaction award)d. Threats: events that may have a devastating impact on a firm or industry (law suits, bankruptcy, entry of a new and powerful competitor, etc.
7. Optional. Use some of the tools we discussed in class (for example, a dividend discount model or a free cash flow model) to derive a target price for your company. (The price per share that you believe is fair). 
The evaluation of the project will be based on: 1.Presenting detailed and relevant information about the firm (how well you researched the firm)2.Explaining your arguments in an intelligent and concise fashion, supporting your claims by relevant information and financial data3.Appropriate use, presentation, and analysis of the quantitative information (stock performance, financial ratios, etc.)4.Proper correspondence of the write-up and quantitative information (tables and charts)5.Identifying relevant competitors and comparing their performance6.Style (brief, consistent, readable, with references to the tables/charts)7.The accuracy of your forecast is not a factor as long as you can explain your opinion well and it is supported by your analysis.
Sources: Annual/quarterly       reports(https://www.sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/companysearch.html),       and       additional  announcements  (such  as  M&A);  Financial  news;  Lexis  Nexis  Academic;  Factiva; Financial databases (Bloomberg; Yahoo Finance; FactSet (located in the trading lab)).  Financial websites like CNBC. You should site the sources that you used in the report (including links to the websites) on the last page.
What will likely lose you points1.Not providing a trade recommendation. 2.Copy-pasting from Wikipedia and other sources (without citing those sources). You will get zero credit if we detect it. This will also be treated as a violation of the honor code and will inflict serious consequences.3.Not spell checking your report, some obvious grammatical errors. 4.Not discussing some of your charts/ tables in the text. 5.Making subjective and unsubstantiated statements  like  “everyone  loves  Starbucks  and  it  will  always be considered a great company”. 6.Vary poorly formatted report that is hard to read, try to make it look professional.7.Not citing your sources. 
Additional information: The report, including all the tables and graphs, should be 4 - 5 pages (plus the cover page and the list of sources =6 to 7 pages total) in a readable font.  Severe deviations from the limit will be penalized. Formatting: 1.5 lines/double space, 1” margins, 12 pt Times New Roman font or equivalent.  If you can, save some trees, and print your report on both sides.