In this Capstone you will recommend a business strategy based on a data model you’ve constructed. Using a data set designed by Wharton Research Data Services (WRDS), you will implement quantitative models in spreadsheets to identify the best opportunities for success and minimizing risk. Using your newly acquired decision-making skills, you will structure a decision and present this course of action in a professional quality PowerPoint presentation which includes both data and data analysis from your quantitative models.
This course is part of the Business and Financial Modeling Specialization
Offered By


About this Course
Skills you will gain
- Summary Statistics
- Financial Modeling
- Diversification (Finance)
- Investment
Offered by

University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (commonly referred to as Penn) is a private university, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. A member of the Ivy League, Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and considers itself to be the first university in the United States with both undergraduate and graduate studies.
Syllabus - What you will learn from this course
Getting Started
Welcome! This opening module was designed to give you an overview of the Business and Financial Modeling Capstone, in which you will be working with historical financial data to calculate individual returns and summary statistics on those returns. The project has multiple steps, which are outlined below in the "Project Prompt", and culminates in a recommendation for portfolio allocation that you will prepare a presentation on. You will draw on elements from all courses to complete this project, and you can use your final presentation as a work sample to improve your current job or even find a new one. Before moving on, complete the "Project Scope Quiz." The work you do this week enables you to understand the steps needed to successfully complete your final project.
Steps 1 and 2: Yahoo Finance
In this module, which correlates to Steps 1 and 2 in the Project Prompt, you'll be working with a historical data set to calculate performance data and to provide summary statistics on that data. These calculations will allow you to practice using Spreadsheets for financial calculations, and provides the foundational skills and numbers for the next steps of the project. First, you'll use the set to calculate daily returns on a set of securities. You'll then use your Spreadsheet skills to calculate summary statistics. You'll be given the opportunity to test your knowledge with a sample return to see if your calculations are correct. And you may want to refresh your recollection of the content from the Specialization with the lectures included here. The work you complete this week allows you to form the basis for comparing stock performance, which you will use in creating the investment portfolio for your final project as well as the comparison to the performance of a single stock.
Step 3: Creating an optimal risky portfolio on the efficient frontier
In this module, you'll go beyond calculating simple returns to tackle the more advanced task of finding the minimum variance and "optimal risk portfolio" weights for a portfolio of selected securities (note, the "optimal risky portfolio" is also known as an "optimal portfolio" or "tangent portfolio"). You'll follow the tasks in Step 3 in the Project Prompt and use the resources below to calculate the portfolio weights for two securities that results in the portfolio with the minimum variance; then, you'll calculate the "optimal risky portfolio" on the efficient frontier for these same two securities, then for all 10 stocks in the pool. You'll be quizzed on your calculations and other insights that emerge from this exercise. The work you complete this week gives you practice in creating an optimal risky portfolio, which is a key component of your final project. Note: There are a number of resources available on the internet providing step-by-step instructions on how to use Excel to create an "optimal risky portfolio" on the efficient frontier given a certain set of available assets. We encourage you to attempt to use the skills you gained during the Specialization to work through these steps independently; you are, however, permitted to utilize third-party resources if you find it necessary. We've included some lectures from the underlying Specialization courses concerning Solver, optimization, and other relevant topics.
Step 4: Optional exercise using CAPM tables
The Capital Asset Pricing Model, or CAPM, is another tool used by investors to weigh the risks and rewards of potential investments. In this optional module covering Step 4 in the Project Prompt, you can use CAPM as a vehicle to further strengthen your financial modeling skills, including using regression concepts. You may revisit the Specialization lectures below touching on regression. To test whether you've grasped the concepts in the CAPM model, this module includes a short quiz. This assessment is formative, meaning your score will not count towards your final grade. The work you do this week may inform how you build the mixed asset portfolio of your final project, but it is not necessary to complete the final project.
Reviews
- 5 stars77.75%
- 4 stars12.13%
- 3 stars5.61%
- 2 stars1.57%
- 1 star2.92%
TOP REVIEWS FROM WHARTON BUSINESS AND FINANCIAL MODELING CAPSTONE
Outstanding and you get to apply everything you learn from all previous courses and apply it here to the capstone.
Really a great set of courses to understand and apply models to many different scenarios. I was able to use the skills I learned right away in my profession. Would definitely recommend.
This context of this capstone was great. I was able to learn about finance and apply the tools that I learned in preceding courses to complete this project successfully.
The course was good, but lack of support when I needed. My questions were not answered and had to find out by myself wasting a lot of time.
About the Business and Financial Modeling Specialization
Wharton's Business and Financial Modeling Specialization is designed to help you make informed business and financial decisions. These foundational courses will introduce you to spreadsheet models, modeling techniques, and common applications for investment analysis, company valuation, forecasting, and more. When you complete the Specialization, you'll be ready to use your own data to describe realities, build scenarios, and predict performance.

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