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BA 497: Business Policy, Strategy, and Ethics (Jean-Denis)

This guide will help with your research

Weighted Average Cost of Capital

10 or 30 yr Treasury Rates:

  • Go to the "Yield" column and use either the 10 year or 30 year bonds.

Market Rate (change in the S&P 500):

Example: I want to obtain the change in the S&P 500 index during 2020.

  • Click either the link for the S&P 500 or U.S. Indices
  • Click Historical Prices
  • Select Jan 1, 2022 as the Start Date and Dec 31, 2023 as the End Date
  • Select Daily for frequency (I want closing prices for the end of the year)
  • Click Get Prices
  • Scroll to the bottom of the screen and click Download to Spreadsheet

Long-term Debt, Total Stockholder's Equity and Tax Rate:

Example: I need the total stockholder's equity, tax rate and long-term debt for Southwest Airlines.

  • Type in either southwest airlines or the ticker symbol (LUV) into the box
  • Click Go
  • Select Southwest Airlines
  • Click the link for Long-term debt. If the company has long-term debt, the total will be listed here.
  • Click the tab forCompany Financials
  • The default financial statement is the balance sheet. Total stockholder's equity will appear in the balance sheet.
  • From the Company Financials screen, click the link for Ratios. The Tax rate will appear on the ratios screen

Example: I need the bond rate for Southwest Airlines.

  • Click the link for Companies
  • Change Company Profile to Bond Screener with the pull-down menu
  • Type southwest airlines into the company name box
  • Click Search
  • Consult the Current Yield

Example: I need a 10-K/Annual reports for Amazon. The 10-K will reveal if your company has issued coupons or other debt instruments.

  • Type amazon into the box
  • Click Go
  • Click the link for Reports
  • Search the document for terms such as bonds, convertible notes, debentures, etc.

Please note: if you check the 10-K for bond yields, make sure that you are evaluating bonds that the company *issued* rather than *purchased*.

Beta

Rather than obtaining the data from sources such as Yahoo Finance or Bloomberg, students need to calculate the beta.