Remote surgery, the challenges and opportunities Essay

Remote surgery, the challenges and opportunities - Essay Example Despite the new discoveries in the future there are many challenges and opportunities of technology in the field of healthcare. The following essay will discuss the challenges and opportunies of remote surgery (Lee 56) In remote cancer care, there have been challenges and opportunities experienced in healthcare. Cancer is associated with decreased productivity, death, physical and social problems in cancer patients and their household. Thus, cancer prevention, screening and making treatment in time is essential. Robot surgery has affected the cancer treatment arena.Computerrised and robotic devices can offer enhanced slightly by tremor abolishment, motion scaling, high quality pictures and visions for surgeons, decreased blood that is lost during invasive procedures, great reduction in narcotic use and reducing the number of days patients stay in hospital. All the same there are some challenges such as inadequate of surgical community support, high costs incurred during treatment, an absence of tactual and tactile response. In prostatectomy surgery challenges include inadequate data showing functional results compared to a single port laparoscopy or an open surgery .it has now been found that there are no clear corresponding clinical trials that prove the robotic surgery to be better than the other surgical practices. The other challenge is the licensing of robotic surgeons, this is because it is a critical area of surgery and the surgeons are expected to renew their license in order to show that they are competent in the skills required to fly the plane. The advantages in robotic surgery during prostatectomy include distinct cosmetics benefits and reduced blood loss. The idea that a small incision can be made done in the stomach compared to a big incision during the invasive procedures is quite interesting but this should be done after considering the expenses in terms of time and equipments if there is no

What makes a Retail Fashion Brand A Brand Essay

What makes a Retail Fashion Brand A Brand - Essay Example The essay "What makes a Retail Fashion Brand A Brand" talks about the Brand of Fashion and how Brand becomes a Brand that can be trusted. The world Fashion is all about changing lifestyles and trends and people following them. The past decade has seen major changes in the world of retailing. It has seen major growth in the marketing and promotion of private labels indicating the increase in the growth and power of retail. However, a number of discounters and warehouse clubs have reintroduced pressure on the conventional retailers and ended up in making the competition even fiercer. The major portion of a retailer’s revenue model relies on selling manufacturer brands, which is a common factor between various other retailers offering the same brand. This factor makes it even more difficult for a retailer to differentiate himself among others. Hence, the problem not only poses a challenge but also an opportunity. If a retailer has the ability to build its own brand equity and cre ate a positive perception and recall in consumer minds, it is bound to reap in healthy profits. It would help the retailer in restoring and maintaining its competitive advantage resulting in increasing the revenue and overall profitability and in turn reducing the costs. Moreover, another advantage that a strong retail brand with high brand equity is that they have more bargaining power with their respective suppliers, which are the manufacturer brands giving them even more advantage over their competitors.

The Current And Potential Use Of Knowledge Management Within The Essay

The Current And Potential Use Of Knowledge Management Within The Airline Industry - Essay Example The Current And Potential Use Of Knowledge Management Within The Airline Industry The various sectors of both AirAsia and the Malaysian Air travel industry were considered and the study research conducted on how they have strategized their operations in order to reap the good benefits of Knowledge Management (AirAsia 2007). The key aspects of Knowledge Management with concern to the airline industry included the information communication technology, organizational learning that involves collective approach towards gaining intellectual capital by the organization, and knowledge sharing that is done between various organizations and institutions either within or externally to acquire better skills and knowledge (Christensen 2007). An industry analysis was conducted and it was clear that the Malaysian Air Services is an oligopoly. It was found out that ICT had been used in innovation, knowledge development and utilization and knowledge capitalization whereas organizational learning and knowledge sharing were so fruitful in improving the modus operandi and new business development for the two airlines. It was thus recommended that the AirAsia knowledge management practices needed to support their expanding business besides sustenance of its cost-leadership advantage and MAS would have to face challenges of its hybrid strategy of competitive pricing and differentiation that would in turn make its brand recognized as a five-star value carrier. (Oxford Business Group 2007). 2.0 Introduction The term Knowledge Management is a diverse field though does not have a specific common definition throughout the universe. In a general sense this is the collective use of skills, principles, facts and rules embodied in a firm’s knowledge assets to add value to the organization by gaining competitive knowledge over othe r firms (Stonehouse and Pemberton, 1999).Knowledge Management is a prerequisite to successful operation by various companies in the current hyper-competitive and ever-dynamic environment where survival can only be a product of their ability to develop longing knowledge-based competencies which can be easily adapted (Nonaka, 1991).though it be difficult to manage, it is most likely that it is the most strategic organizational asset (Shepard, 2000) and is the dominant way of gaining competitive advantage. Knowledge can be classified as either generic or specific though to a certain degree specific knowledge is unique to the firm hence it is more likely source of competitive advantage and is the basis of main competences in comparison with generic knowledge which is even so necessary for business operation (Stonehouse and Pemberton, 1999).the airline industry with its very competitive nature, dynamic stance, complexity alongside its high dependence on knowledge management gives

Food Legislation is an Effective Way to Protect Public Health Discuss Essay

Food Legislation is an Effective Way to Protect Public Health Discuss - Essay Example Childhood obesity is growing concern amongst the other public health issues. Research shows that obesity is responsible for several other ailments and disorders such as diabetes, cardio vascular diseases and heart attacks. Hence controlling obesity from the very early years is an important thing to be ensured by the government of a nation. Obesity is spreading fast as a symptom of health crisis. It is a significant problem for mostly the developed nations but the developing countries are also catching up. Three of the G20 countries have an obesity rate above 30 percent. These are United States with 46.5 percent of its inhabitants suffering form obesity, Argentina with 37.6 percent and Mexico with 35.5 percent. Across the world above one billion adult populace are obese and the obesity rates have risen three fold or beyond in areas of North America, East Europe and the Middle East mainly due to lack of proper nutrients and reduced level of physical activities. Seven among the G20 nati ons have obesity rates lying above 25 percent. These comprise Saudi Arabia (29.7 %), â€Å"Australia (28.8 %), Canada (25.6%) and the United Kingdom (25%)† (The Globalist, 2010) In 2008, the BMI benchmarks were reviewed in England and following this revision, obesity amongst 2-15 years old children increased from 11 to 17 percent for boys and from 12 to 15 percent amongst girls (19). The 5-DAY program in UK has been proven to be an effective preventative way of improving both diet and nutrition amongst the population. Amongst those who follow this 5-DAY program, women (29 percent) comprised a greater share than men (25 percent). The survey also revealed that consumption increased in proportion to age. The group taken between 16 to 24 years of age comprised of 18 percent men and 21 percent women consuming the 5 portions intake of fruits and vegetables while the percentage for men and women are 32 and 36 percent respectively for the age group ranging from 55 to 64 years. Consid ering children aged between 5 to 15 years, one in five boys and girls were able to meet the government’s prescribed goal for consumption of a minimum of five serving size of fruits and vegetables. Fresh fruits were more commonly taken in these portions. The consumption of fruits was observed to decrease with increase in age (Craig, Mindell and Hirani, 2008, p.19). Now, obesity, especially in children is a problem, which needs to be controlled solely through a proper diet. Inclination towards fast food at the individual and the family level has mostly resulted in this problem. Often it has been observed that obesity, which develops in the childhood, tends to continue throughout life unless the eating habit and monitored at this stage. This makes childhood obesity an issue to be dealt with the help of regulation on food covering various aspects. Childhood obesity Over the past 30 years, the occurrence of plump children is identified as those having a body mass index (BMI) more than the 85th percentile for age and gender have tripled. Above 30 per cent of toddlers in the United States are plump or obese (BMI > 95th percentile). Childhood plumpness results from a malfunction of the body’s self-dictatorial system to adapt to environmental controls characteristic of the person’s genetic backdrop. Various aspects in the process of the multifaceted

Gender In The Middle Ages Essay Example for Free

Gender In The Middle Ages Essay During the medieval periods, gender is a great measure defining the state of a certain person in a certain society. According to the Qur’an, the male gendered people are always considered as superior than that of the female figures because the scripture explains that it is as God created man first before creating a woman and that the man is the protector and provider of the woman. In the medieval period society, those people who acquire power are said to be all male gendered ones. A woman is never allowed to hold power because they are said to be subjected in doing household chores because they are believed to be inferior being than that of man. Females are believed to be basically serving their husbands as well as their children and also their parents. This kind of belief bloomed because it is written in the Holy Scriptures that God created man on his image and because God is believed to be a powerful immortal creator then therefore the man whom he created holds the power over everything that God created. The only position that a woman can hold in the society during the medieval time is; someone who will follow their husband as they are subjected to follow the man’s rule because the man are considered the authority. Woman are also not allowed to learn as they are not allowed to teach, they also can not be allowed as a witness, and nor are they allowed to give their judgement as well as their opinion over a certain matter. Women are never given the chance to excel beyond what they are, neither are they given the opportunity to speak out their thoughts. They are considered as servants who are chosen by the immortal creator to serve the man created as the holder of the power and authority above every creation. The society’s expectation of role towards the people came basically from the sacred scriptures. In Christian scripture, it is stated in the bible that Adam was made first in order to rule, protect and be the authority over God’s creation; in the Qur’an scripture from the Islamic religion, it has also been stated that man is made first in order to rule those who are made inferior to them. The medieval scenario on gender shows that the medieval period basically adopted the sacred scripture’s statement and implemented it as a basis on how they are going to treat such people depicted by their gender. This explains that the church has a great influence towards the people on the medieval periods; it generally makes people obey and base their social life under the words of the immortal creator. The people’s concern during the medieval period which is related to gender is that they give man all the respect due to the man’s gender. The respect that the society bestows towards the male figures is considered as a symbol of their love and respect to which they believe and they have faith into. Since the people believed that God is powerful and that God created man from his own image, therefore man as the society considers, is as precious and as respectful as God is who deserves authority, power, love, respect, and obedience as much as loyalty. On the contrary, there is an act in which the boundaries of gender can be altered. An example is the Chambermaid who is a servant employed by a certain master in order to do all the heavy and most filthy duties in a household. This kind of servant can be almost considered as an outcast or untouchable and therefore man are not allowed to get closer to her and worst is that man are also not allowed to marry them. The people during the medieval period are basically not allowed to rise into a higher status in the society. Since the medieval people have their idea in mind that women are not created through God’s image and likeness, they are then subjected to forever being servant of their master or of their husband. This includes their exception from learning as well as their exception from their right to teach what they know, the are also not allowed to become a witness in any matter or crime, they are even prevented from giving such guarantee, and thus they are also not allowed to witness such judgement nor give their own opinion regarding the judgement matters. The ideas and beliefs that the medieval people used to believe are cruel and unfair. It imposes that women are useless and all that women can be is a simple servant who tends to follow all that the man has to say or has to command. In addition, women are being treated like animals lacking of respect and losing their dignity as a human being who are too created by the almighty. Through the period that the female beings were disrespected, they’ve experienced torments, public humiliation; they are also unaccepted by the society to join any position or to excel at any other state rather than that of being a slave. If the medieval people really believed in God and thus respect and love him as they loved the male races, then therefore the woman also deserves such respect because they too are beings created by God and that what God said that â€Å"man should be the authority over woman† was taken exaggeratedly to the extend that the male race treated the women as â€Å"nothing† where what God meant by his word is that man should be the authority over woman in order to protect the female race from the temptations and tests of life which females are weak of. Class status added a conflict to the situation when women were disregarded and taken advantage of. Those who are rich or considered as powerful aristocrats during the medieval period tend to purchase women to e either their sex object or slaves. Those who are being purchased for slaves were being commanded to do ridiculous chores and those who were purchased to be sex objects were considered as source for past time pleasure. The women purchased to make love with by the socially stabled man will not be free even if somebody purchased them unless their present master will decide to let go of them. The example wherein people could see that women where given the opportunity to be treated fairly is in The Rule of St. Francis of Assisi wherein he said that man which he considers as his brothers should not dare to judge other people but rather they should be gentle or kind. In addition to the rules, it was stated that man should not have any verbal nor non-verbal connection with the women unless they were being allowed by the pope. The rules of St. Francis of Assisi show how people must treat women in a way that the women were being given proper respect. The nuns’ gender as a female deserves respect for they are holy as God had created them and as they were ready to serve God. In the middle or medieval period, gender treatments were not uniform. There were places where female were considered slaves and that they were being sold and purchased just like materials things and men act like God who holds power over women. On the other hand, in other places, men were treated like slaves as women were and they too experiences sufferings and torments and women where somehow treated fairly. Gender issues during the medieval or middle age is a historical fact that marked the perception of people towards the importance of the humanity’s difference and how they should be treated which made the people of this period time realize that women can be as useful, and as effective as men in any matter. It is not because man are made with God’s image that women should be taken advantage of but it is that because they are God’s like created figures, they should then treat the creations as a precious thing which is under their care. BIBLIOGRAPHY Sherman, Dennis. Western Civilization Sources, Images, and Interpretations. 7th ed. Vol. 1: McGraw Hill, Year.

Evaluation of Individual Stock and Sector Level

Evaluation of Individual Stock and Sector Level Is there any method of asset allocation within a stock portfolio that can repeatedly and over time outperform a passive index (buy and hold strategy)? The objective of this study is to compare strategies that have been used over the last decades by academics and professionals alike, and to expand on that study to create a real-time portfolio at the end of year t, to observe the portfolios behaviour during the next year (t + 1). This portfolio, unlike those created in previous studies, is not limited to the study of individual stocks, but instead gives importance to sector allocation. In addition, this study also focuses on implementing a long-short strategy in those assets: with the same overall exposure to the market, will a long-short strategy that depends on financial metrics exhibit a better risk-adjusted return than a 100% long strategy? In other words, are financial metrics capable of not only detecting undervalued stocks, but also of detecting those overpriced? Sector allocation is an especially important factor, with previous studies failing to consider sector allocations before moving to find the best classified assets within each sector; rather, they have jumped directly to stock selection. One of the most common strategies for stock picking in the asset management industry today relies on initially choosing sectors that, from a macro perspective, are expected to outperform the market. From this stance, analysts proceed to evaluate specific stocks to choose potential winners. Despite this being the industry standard, only a scarce number of studies exist that use common ratios between sectors to analyse and devise allocation strategies that are first sector-based and then based on individual stock. The objective of this project, therefore, is to focus on a set of financial metrics, both at individual stock level and at sector level, to examine if there is a positive relationship between these ratios and alpha creation. In order to achieve this, a portfolio will be constructed and rebalanced yearly, according to previous end-of-year data. Several traditionally-appraised financial measures, such as P/E ratio, free cash flow to enterprise value ratio and book-to-market value ratio will be employed, as will certain profitability ratios that include data from the income statement, such as gross profit, operating profit and EBITDA. The reasoning behind using measures higher up within the income statement is due to solely to accounting choices in comparison to net income these are less affected by an individual companys accounting process. In fact, revenue and other described measures of profit, are more consistent year to year than net income. Subsequently, this provides the rationa le that these measures are better able to predict future cash flows and, consequently, next years performance. Forward-looking measures such as analysts consensus recommendations and forward EPS will also be utilised and tested. Departing from the hypothesis that these individuals conduct an exhaustive analysis of the financial data at year end t to predict the performance during year t+1, the accuracy of the forecasts will be tested against those same financial measures and valuation metrics existing at year end t. Data will be extracted from a set of databases comprised of Compustat, CRSP and I/B/E/S. Fundamental data will be extracted from end-of-fiscal-year filing, to allow a time lag for the data release of a quarter period (3 months), before a portfolio is rebalanced. Hence, with a fiscal year ending in December of year t, a lag in the release of data will always exist and portfolios will be rebalanced at the end of the first quarter of year t+1. Monthly returns for every stock will be compounded throughout that year over 12 months. Each years universe of stocks will then be ranked by the different valuation metrics to construct a portfolio at year end t in order to assess the portfolios performance during t + 1. Three different sets of portfolios will be constructed for each financial metric each year and, within each set, two strategies will be implemented. For a stocks-only portfolio, only those stocks ranking in the upper quintile (top 20%) will be used each year. For the sector-only portfolio, a market capitalisation average of each sector will be calculated, and the portfolio will be formed by the top 20% sectors ranked in any given year. For the sector and stocks portfolio, an implementation of both criteria will be evaluated. That being said, the portfolio is formed from the top quintile stocks within the top quintile sectors each year. As a whole, this assumes a long strategy, buying in on those stocks on a value-weighted basis each year to constitute a portfolio. In the long-short strategy, the bottom quintile of each respective category will be shorted, and the proceeds used to buy an extra 30% of the top quintile of stocks. Using a long-short strategy will help the researcher examine the feasibility of using these ratios in recognising overvalued stocks as well as undervalued companies, and use this information to construct a more profitable portfolio. A 130/30 long short strategy is used, where a 150/50 long short strategy or other proportions could have also been tested. However, the 130/30 strategy is chosen following the creation and later popularisation of 130/30 mutual funds and investment vehicles. This choice stems from an initial study suggesting that 130/30 was the optimal proportion of long-short positions in a portfolio, even though no empirical data has been found that a 130/30 strategy later maximises alpha. Despite this, given its popularisation and position as an industry standard, our analysis proceeds with this strategy. Ultimately, performance attribution and portfolio statistics will be calculated, such as average return, total payoff, standard deviation, Sharpe ratio and alpha according to the Fama French 3 factor model, correcting for small minus big and high minus low book market value (Fama and French, 1992). This will help in our analysis of the results, to provide a clear and concise indication of which ratios perform best under each strategy and under each level (sector and stock). Literature Review Re-emphasising the importance of sector level asset allocation strategies, particularly at a time in the financial industry when performance attribution analysis stresses return on the relative weighting of sectors in portfolios, it is surprising that existing studies underscore the importance of certain ratios or fundamental data for stocks while lacking the ability to employ a method to identify undervalued sectors. Previous studies from Shiller and Bunn (2014) construct a 140-year regression series based on the relationship between the earnings of different sectors and their yields, creating a CAPE (Cyclically Adjusted Price Earnings) index that identifies sectors with upside potential. Their research indicates that market sectors show price mismatches that can be exploited. According to them, the CAPE index is capable of outperforming the market by an average of 4%. Therefore, the objective of this project is to expand on their results by examining a number of other ratios and fi nancial fundamentals, particularly those related to profitability measures, and to investigate whether these, both at individual and sector level, are capable of forming a portfolio that outperforms the broader index and a buy and hold investment strategy. Gray and Vogel (2012) try to depict not only the ratio that is able to predict higher performing stocks, but also those in the lower ranges; this implies being able to detect not only what are known in the financial investment world as value stocks, but also overvalued growth stocks. According to their research, some measures are more efficient than others in providing insight into which stocks are overpriced. Gray and Vogel (2012) therefore conclude that EBITDA/EV and GP/EV are the metrics that are best able to identify the overvalued stocks. The results in this dissertation agree that the GP/EV ratio is useful to identify overvalued stocks and is hence a good metric to build long/short strategies, but the results also consider free cash flow/EV as a favourite on a risk-adjusted basis for implementing a long-short strategy at stock level. The results of the following study show that stocks exhibiting a low FCF/EV experience low returns, demonstrating an ability to identify overvalue d stocks. Such a contradiction might be explained by the difference in the universe of stocks used or, more specifically, by the use of lag for data release, which corrects the assumption that results are available to the public at the end of fiscal year t. This lag is introduced by Hughen and Strauss (2015) in their comparable study of profitability ratios in portfolio allocation. The analysis in this project goes beyond what the Gray and Vogel (2012) study implies and develops a portfolio strategy to buy stocks that exhibit higher ratios, but also a complementing 130/30 strategy, which short sells stocks exhibiting poor ratios, and proportionally buys in excess those that exhibit a healthy ratio. As Miller (2001) shows in his work, overvaluation of stocks is far more common and of greater absolute value than undervaluation. This supports a rationale for this work. However, care should be taken when dealing with long-short strategies. As suggested by Michaud (1993), costs stemming from short sales in a portfolio could prove quite significant. However, Jacobs and Levy (1995) argue that these costs are not much higher than a long-only portfolio, and are well under those charged by active management. Professionals and practitioners alike have historically depended on several fundamental and financial measures to assist them in the portfolio selection process. Perhaps the most famous is the price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) along with the ratio between earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) and total enterprise value. Fama and French (1992) argue that book to market ratio perhaps most accurately explains the cross section return of stock, which they later include in their three-factor model. In our approach, we include these traditional metrics, while also relying on profitability measures, such as gross profit/EV, introduced by Novy-Marx (2010), and operating profit divided by market value, as presented in Fama and Frenchs (2015) 5-factor model. Ball et al. (2015) proves that the suggestions shown in Novy-Marxs (2010) paper, in which he proposes the existence of a very strong cross relation between gross profit and future returns, regardless of the financial leverage or structure of the firm, are true by constructing portfolios based on highly profitable firms as represented by gross profit/enterprise value. Novy-Marx (2010) concluded that because gross profit is the measure of profit less affected by accounting choices in the income statement, it results in a clear and normalised comparison between different companies. However, Ball et al. (2015) argue that gross profit is not significantly superior to net income (earnings) when analysing an extended time period. After analysing other measures of financial data, they conclude that operating profit, as a percentage of market value, does offer a significantly higher alpha. Therefore, this project continues with the aforementioned financial metrics, and focuses on sector and stock selection to create an annually-rebalanced real-time portfolio. Hughen and Strauss (2015) attempt to use different financial measures to construct portfolios at sector, stock and combined stock and sector levels. The following study complements and verifies the conclusions of Hughen and Strauss (2015) regarding the superior indicators of profitability measures versus traditional measures of valuation such as P/E and book to market in all three levels, and extends their research by looking at forward looking measures and a value weighted approach to the sector allocation, rather than the equal weight approach used in their research. The limitations of assuming sectors to be equally weighted across the portfolio, and not a function of the market value of the components of those sectors, contradict the notion of constructing a value-weighted portfolio. Their construction of portfolios at stock level is value-weighted, whilst at sector levels they equally weight each sector within their top quintile. This is a counterintuitive approach and this paper tackles that limitation by weighting the sectors accordingly respective to their components market capitalization, making periodical rebalances within the year unnecessary and increasing operational efficiencies in a real-life practical situation. It should be mentioned that the universe of stocks used in this study pertains to the SP500, which by definition is a market-weighted index. The project finds some discrepancies with respect to Hughen and Strauss paper, in particular surrounding the performance of the free cash flow ratio. A possible explanation for this is that this study states free cash flow as a percentage of total enterprise value, whilst Hughen and Strauss (2015) compute it as a percentage of market value. The approach taken within the subsequent study results in a much higher risk-adjusted return for the ratio, as measured by the Sharpe ratio, both for long strategies and to identify overvalued stocks. In their research of different financial ratios, Loughran and Wellman (2011) found that EBITDA over enterprise value offers superior performance to a predefined buy and hold benchmark. Their analysis, which comprehends data starting from 1963 to 2009, holds that EBITDA/EV possess a very significant regressive coefficient with future performance. Gray and Vogel (2012) confirm this hypothesis, analysing a time period of 30 years starting in 1980, in their research of different financial metrics. This paper confirms that, at a stocks-only level, EBITDA along with gross profit, both measured as a percentage of enterprise value, offer the highest risk-adjusted returns. For the analysis at both sector and stock level, EBITDA fails to show the same accuracy as the stock-only analysis. Therefore, the following study builds on the findings of previous studies by providing a more thorough examination at sector level. Gray and Vogel (2012) extended their research further by considering periods of economic crisis, in order to identify which financial ratio is most appropriate during high volatility economic downturns. However, they were unable to conclude which ratio is able to identify winners or losers during periods of financial distress, because none behaves in the same systematic manner during selected periods of extreme economic contraction. In their study of different economic coefficients and measures, Welch and Goyal (2007) conclude that the relationship between sector level performance and macroeconomic industrial data is unstable and at most, follows a random relationship. With that in mind, the focus of this paper is instead on building sector data as a market weighted average of the individual microeconomic company ratios and forecasts. Each individual constituent fundamental metric at year end will be used to position the allocation of each asset for the next year based on a ranked system. This construes that this analysis will be based on each stocks financial information at year end t to later construct sector level ratios and metrics, and is not based on macroeconomic or sector level data that, according to Welch and Goyal (2007), do not provide any significant cross-relation with future performance. Theory Development Although the focus of previous literature is in the attribution of portfolio performance to the different ratios and metrics used, the objective of this paper is to examine whether these same metrics, mainly traditional measures, forward looking estimates and profitability ratios, are able to exploit sector and stock level mispricing and generate real-time winner portfolios. Given the availability of forward estimates in the I/B/E/S database, a period from 1990 to 2016 will be examined in this paper. The choice of time period is not a random one; rather, to have consistency in data across the analysis and throughout all the variables used, this period is chosen from the start. To see the limitations of an extended data period, Gray and Vogels (2012) work show an exemplary illustration of such restrictions. They use a period of 30 years, starting in 1980, evaluating which financial metric can predict future performance. They complement their analysis on fundamental metrics by looking at analysts estimates and consensus forecasts, succeeding to recognise the lack of certain information in the beginning years of their timeframe, therefore failing to Nos interesa saber, al igual que el trabajo de Graham y Dodd (1934), cà ³mo el uso de normalizacià ³n de los diferentes ratios y fundamentos es capaz de cambiar nuestros resultados. Segà ºn sus estudios, la normalizacià ³n o media sobre cierto tiempo de estas mà ©tricas financieras, es capaz de mejorar la prediccià ³n de los resultados comparado con una estimacià ³n anual. Segà ºn su anà ¡lisis, la normalizacià ³n deberà ­a ser entre 7 y 10 aà ±os. Anderson y Brooks (2006) recientemente confirmaron esto, llevando a cabo un estudio de la mà ©trica P/E, la cual tambià ©n utilizamos en nuestro anà ¡lisis, pero a la inversa (Earnings/ Market Value). Segà ºn su estudio, basado sobre el mercado en U.K., usando el promedio de este ratio de 8 aà ±os en lugar de usar las mà ©tricas del aà ±o anterior, resulta en un crecimiento de las ganancias de un 6%, ya que es capaz de filtrar el ruido de earnings. Siguiendo estos anà ¡lisis, nuestro estudio abarcarà ¡ tambià ©n ratio s normalizados durante una serie de aà ±os, concentrà ¡ndonos en el universo de acciones del SP500, para confirmar que esta hipà ³tesis es apta en nuestro anà ¡lisis. Sin embargo, Data V.I Evaluation Metrics This paper will focus on three different categories of data inputs. There is an abundant choice of methods and variables in the accounting and financial research world, there is a large set of variables and measures to assess a firms valuation. In order to establish the model, an initial differentiation between these variables should be made. Traditional Metrics To start with, we look at the long standing traditional metrics that long have been appraised by the professionals in the financial industry. This involves the inverse of the P/E ratio, given as Earnings over Market Value of the firm, Book to Market value and Free Cash Flow to Enterprise Value. These ratios, introduced decades back in the origins of value investing by Graham and Dodd (1934), show mixed results according to existing literature. Including this long favourite measures in this research will prove useful when comparing to the other measures. Earnings/Market Value Earnings will be computed following Fama and Frenchs (2001) approach: Earnings = Earnings Before Extraordinary Items Preferred Dividends + Income Statement Deferred Taxes Book value/Market Value Book Value will again be calculated as Fama and French (2001) propose. Following on its definition, Book Value = Stockholders Equity Preferred Stock Free Cash Flow/Enterprise Value Analogous to Novy-Marxs (2010) work, we compute free cash flow as FCF = Net Income + Depreciation Amortisation Working Capital Change Capital Expenditures Enterprise Value will also need to be calculated. Following Loughran and Wellman (2011), we compute it as EV = Market Value + Short-term Debt + Long-term Debt + Preferred Stock Value Cash and Short-term Investments The enterprise value variable will be used again in multiple valuation measures. Profitability Metrics Profitability measures as reported in the income statement will also be used as valuation methods. The focus will be Gross Profit, EBITDA and Operating Profit. EBITDA and Gross Profit will be computed as a percentage of Total Enterprise value, as suggested by the work of Gray and Vogel (2012), whilst Operating Profit will be looked at as a percentage of Market Value. From here on, well expand on this and compute an average of this three profitability measures, in order to analyse if a composite metric is able to detect the cross relation between fundamentals and future returns. The reasoning behind using an average of these three different measures stems from the work of Hughen and Strauss (2015), as they find that the composite measure are less sensitive to changes in the firms structure across different sectors and within sectors, as well as providing more information than just a single variable. This implies that the average measure is less affected by differences in financial leverage across sectors, which results in a more standardised comparison between firms in different sectors. Gross Profit/Enterprise Value Once again following Novy-Marx (2010), we compute every years gross profit as Gross Profit = Revenue Cost of Goods Sold Operating Profit/Market Value Operating Profit, as define in the income statement will be used for this metric. EBITDA/Enterprise Value EBITDA, defined as Earnings Before Interest, Tax and Depreciation Amortisation is calculated by the simple sum of operating and non-operating income; EBITDA = Operating Income before Depreciation + Non-Operating Income Profitability Average Equally weighted average of the three profitability ratios. The reason for selecting profitability measures higher up the income statement, and not focusing solely on the inverse P/E ratio, Earnings/MV or expectations of forward earnings, is because the higher up the income statement we go, the more consistent data proves to be year on year: that is, figures are more normalized and suffer fewer variations, which could explain why they result in being better predictive models, filtering out excessive noise. According to Dichev et al. (2013), profitability metrics are more persistent than earnings and forecast future performance more accurately than net income. Earnings data is affected by accounting choices, whereas gross profit and operating income suffer fewer distortions from this. Forward Estimates Analysing a set of fundamental past data wont be the only proxy used to rebalance our portfolio: analysts stock recommendations will also be evaluated. Two different sets of forward data will be used. In the first place, an average of the consensus forecast of next fiscal years EPS divided by the current market value of each firm will be used. This forecast will be an average of the estimates of each analyst throughout the fourth quarter of year t for year t+1. The consensus mean recommendations from analysts from the fourth quarter of the year t for year t+1 will also be employed. These recommendations are a ranking from 1 to 5, with 1 signalling a strong buy and 5 a strong sell. This is the mean of the different analysts recommendation existing at that time for each individual stock. V.II Data Criteria and Universe To ensure a minimum amount of liquidity in our analysis, we pick the historical constituents of the SP500 Index as our universe of stocks. This results in our analysis not being driven by the performance of smaller capitalisation firms, for which data might not be readily available. As our analysis involves implementing a long/short strategy, the ability to do so with large capitalisation stocks in practice results much easier. Therefore, every year, the appropriate constituents in our portfolio are updated, reflecting the changes in the overall index. This implies that our universe of stocks closely replicate the SP 500 Index on a yearly basis. The constituents as of 1990 will first be extracted, and updated every year thereafter. The analysis is then limited to those companies with a positive market capitalization as of December of year t, as well as to those companies with at least 2 years of data, in order to perform all the analysis in a consistent universe of stocks. In order to conduct the analysis across sectors in a more uniform manner, certain companies were removed from the universe of stocks. This includes REITs, utility and financial firms, as denominated by CRSP. From this, a benchmark is constructed with our new universe of stocks; that is, all those fulfilling the above criteria. This benchmark is a value weighted portfolio of all the stocks for a given year, rebalanced yearly at the end of each previous year (December 31st). Therefore, being a market value weighted portfolio comprising most SP500 stocks, it should closely resemble the SP500 Index. Comparing the quarterly performance of both our benchmark and the index for the period to analyse between 1990 and 2015, and running a corresponding regression, it is found that they correlate with a coefficient of 99.17%. As seen by this observation, our universe of stocks bears similarities with the index, although the payoff at the end of the period differs. The benchmark provides a payoff of $11.13 for a $1 investment (or a 1113%) at the start of the period, in 1990. The SP500 index returns a payoff of $8.86 (886%) at the end of the period. This figures assume complete reinvestment of capital and a compounded growth rate. V.V Model We represent year t+1 to be the year for which the portfolios performance will be monitored, and year t to be the year in which the fundamental data which will estimate performance will be extracted. As most US companies have a fiscal year corresponding to the calendar year, our model will retrieve end of year fundamental data for these companies, corresponding to December year t, allow for a data release lag, and compute the portfolio. The lag in data release is introduced as companies dont disclose their annual financial statements until the quarter after their fiscal year end. This usually happens within two months, as observed from historical data. Taking this factor into account, the model will allow for a lag of one quarter, therefore allowing for information to be readily available to the public at each point in time. Denoting t.(x) as the xth quarter of year t, and t+1.(x) as the xth quarter of year t+1, the above implies extracting fundamental data as of t.(4), allowing for a lag in data release during t+1.(1) in order to construct the portfolio at t+1.(2). The performance will then be measured during one year from then. This model so far deals only with the companies which disclose their end of year information by the end of the calendar year, so a provision must be made for the proportionally low, but still significant, number of companies whose annual results are released at a different date. Hughen and Strauss (2015) tackled this issue by rebalancing quarterly their portfolio, but they recognized the limitations of using quarterly results rather than normalizing their ratios and profitability measures by using annual ones. Gray and Vogels (2012) work consists of an annually rebalanced portfolio as of June 30 every year. Their approach is to use, for firms with fiscal year ending within the last quarter of the previous year, or the first quarter of the year, those fundamentals. For companies with fiscal years ending after March 30, previous years fundamentals will be used. This implies that, no matter when the end of fiscal year is, the latest annual filling will always be employed to construct th eir portfolio, even when this filling is from the second quarter of the previous year. In the following model, the approach will be somewhat different, Therefore, first, a differentiation between the two strategies implemented should be made. Value weighted These buy-and-hold portfolios are attractive not only because they minimize trading costs, but because they are simple to implement from an operational perspective. Mention sector allocation using SICS merge Compustat and CRSP databases. Delisting returns. References Ball, R., Gerakos, J., Linnainmaa, J. and Nikolaev, V. (2015). Deflating profitability. Journal of Financial Economics, 117(2), pp.225-248. Bunn, O. and Shiller, R. (2014). Changing times, changing values. 1st ed. Cambridge, Mass. Dichev, I., Graham, J., Harvey, C. and Rajgopal, S. (n.d.). Earnings Quality: Evidence from the Field. SSRN Electronic Journal. Fama, E. and French, K. (1992). The Cross-Section of Expected Stock Returns. The Journal of Finance, 47(2), p.427. Fama, E. and French, K. (2006). Disappearing dividends: changing firm characteristics or lower propensity to pay?. 1st ed. Fama, E. and French, K. (2015). A five-factor asset pricing model. Journal of Financial Economics, 116(1), pp.1-22. Gray, W. and Vogel, J. (2012). Analyzing Valuation Measures: A Performance Horse-Race Over the Past 40 Years. SSRN Electronic Journal. Hughen, J. and Strauss, J. (2015). Portfolio Allocations Using Fundamental Ratios: Are Profitability Measures Effective in Selecting Firms and Sectors?. SSRN Electronic Journal. Jacobs, B. and Levy, K. (1993). Long/Short Equity Investing. The Journal of Portfolio Management, 20(1), pp.52-63. Loughran, T. and Wellman, J. (2011). New Evidence on the Relation between the Enterprise Multiple and Average Stock Returns. Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, 46(06), pp.1629-1650. Michaud, R. (1993). Are Long-Short Equity Strategies Superior?. Financial Analysts Journal, 49(6), pp.44-49. Miller, E. (2001). Why the Low Returns to Beta and Other Forms of Risk. The Journal of Portfolio Management, 27(2), pp.40-55. Novy-Marx, R. (2010). The other side of value. 1st ed. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research. Welch, I. and Goyal, A. (2007). A Comprehensive Look at The Empirical Performance of Equity Premium Prediction. Review of Financial Studies, 21(4), pp.1455-1508.

Book Report On Of Mice And Men Essay -- essays research papers

Of Mice and Men In the beginning of the story, two men named George Milton and Lennie Small are trying to make their way to a small ranch in Salinas Valley, California. George is the leader of their two man tribe, despite Lennie’s intimidating size. George is filled with determination and confidence while Lennie is a simple man with a big heart. Up north, they had recently been run out of a town called Weed on account of Lennie. First of all, Lennie is not very smart, and becomes frightened and confused easily. Also, he enjoys petting animals and feelingthings that grab his attention. One night in Weed, Lennie and George had gone to a pool hall. Lennie saw a girl wearing a bright red dress. He grabbed on to the sleeve of her dress. The girl became scared and screamed; this frightened Lennie. He did not know what to do so he held on to the dress tighter. The next day, George found out that the girl went to the police and pressed charges against Lennie. The police were all over town looking for him. George and Lennie escaped by hiding in an irrigation ditch until nightfall and then leaving town. After that, they hitchhiked all the way to Salinas Valley, California where the story continues. The next day they arrived at their destination, the ranch where the would be working. That day, they met someone named Candy. He was an old man who had been working on the farm for many years. He also had an old dog. It was so stiff with rheumatism it could hardly walk. A few ...