Learner Reviews & Feedback for Investments I: Fundamentals of Performance Evaluation by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
4.7
stars
890 ratings
About the Course
In this course, we will discuss fundamental principles of trading off risk and return, portfolio optimization, and security pricing. We will study and use risk-return models such as the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) and multi-factor models to evaluate the performance of various securities and portfolios. Specifically, we will learn how to interpret and estimate regressions that provide us with both a benchmark to use for a security given its risk (determined by its beta), as well as a risk-adjusted measure of the security’s performance (measured by its alpha). Building upon this framework, market efficiency and its implications for patterns in stock returns and the asset-management industry will be discussed. Finally, the course will conclude by connecting investment finance with corporate finance by examining firm valuation techniques such as the use of market multiples and discounted cash flow analysis. The course emphasizes real-world examples and applications in Excel throughout. This course is the first of two on Investments that I am offering online (“Investments II: Lessons and Applications for Investors” is the second course).
The over-arching goals of this course are to build an understanding of the fundamentals of investment finance and provide an ability to implement key asset-pricing models and firm-valuation techniques in real-world situations. Specifically, upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to:
• Explain the tradeoffs between risk and return
• Form a portfolio of securities and calculate the expected return and standard deviation of that portfolio
• Understand the real-world implications of the Separation Theorem of investments
• Use the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) and 3-Factor Model to evaluate the performance of an asset (like stocks) through regression analysis
• Estimate and interpret the ALPHA (α) and BETA (β) of a security, two statistics commonly reported on financial websites
• Describe what is meant by market efficiency and what it implies for patterns in stock returns and for the asset-management industry
• Understand market multiples and income approaches to valuing a firm and its stock, as well as the sensitivity of each approach to assumptions made
• Conduct specific examples of a market multiples valuation and a discounted cash flow valuation
This course was previously entitled “Financial Evaluation and Strategy: Investments” and was part of a previous specialization entitled "Improving Business and Finances Operations", which is now closed to new learner enrollment. “Financial Evaluation and Strategy: Investments” received an average rating of 4.8 out of 5 based on 199 reviews over the period August 2015 through August 2016. You can view a detailed summary of the ratings and reviews for this course in the Course Overview section.
This course is part of the iMBA offered by the University of Illinois, a flexible, fully-accredited online MBA at an incredibly competitive price. For more information, please see the Resource page in this course and onlinemba.illinois.edu....
Top reviews
JA
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This is a great course, highly recommend it, but make sure you have the bandwidth to climb a steep learning curve if you aren't in the investment world.
VV
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All the examples were helpful in providing a lot of real world perspectives and was beneficial to someone who had already done a similar course.
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201 - 205 of 205 Reviews for Investments I: Fundamentals of Performance Evaluation
By Jason D
•
Feb 5, 2019
Instructor know's his stuff, but there are sooooo many "ahh" and "umm". It is impossible to follow. I expect better from U of I. Really ashamed. I counted it up and on average in one video he says it about every 10-12 seconds.
By Svitlana N
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Jul 21, 2020
Poorly taught and overcomplicated, I have been in finance for 6 years and this stuff is much more simple in real life. If you just want to stick to academia, this is a perfect course.
By Tarek B
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Jul 30, 2017
Professor goes off-topic very often and is not concise. Poor quality in general.
