We hope you will find this and other books in the CFA Institute Investment Series helpful in your efforts to grow your investment knowledge, whether you are a relatively new entrant or an experienced veteran striving to keep up to date in the ever-changing market environment. CFA Institute, as a long-term committed participant in the investment profession and a not-for-profit global membership association, is pleased to provide you with this opportunity.
THE CFA PROGRAM
If the subject matter of this book interests you, and you are not already a CFA charterholder, we hope you will consider registering for the CFA Program and progressing toward earning the Chartered Financial Analyst designation. The CFA designation is a globally recognized standard of excellence for measuring the competence and integrity of investment professionals. To earn the CFA charter, candidates must successfully complete the CFA Program, a global graduate-level self-study program that combines a broad curriculum with professional conduct requirements as preparation for a career as an investment professional.
Anchored by a practice-based curriculum, the CFA Program Body of Knowledge reflects the knowledge, skills, and abilities identified by professionals as essential to the investment decision-making process. This body of knowledge maintains its relevance through a regular, extensive survey of practicing CFA charterholders across the globe. The curriculum covers 10 general topic areas, ranging from equity and fixed-income analysis to portfolio management to corporate finance – all with a heavy emphasis on the application of ethics in professional practice. Known for its rigor and breadth, the CFA Program curriculum highlights principles common to every market so that professionals who earn the CFA designation have a thoroughly global investment perspective and a profound understanding of the global marketplace.
CFA INSTITUTE
CFA Institute is the premier association for investment professionals around the world, with over 142,000 members in 159 countries. Since 1963 the organization has developed and administered the renowned Chartered Financial Analyst® Program. With a rich history of leading the investment profession, CFA Institute has set the highest standards in ethics, education, and professional excellence within the global investment community, and is the foremost authority on investment profession conduct and practice. Each book in the CFA Institute Investment Series is geared toward industry practitioners along with graduate-level finance students and covers the most important topics in the industry.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We would like to thank the many individuals who played a role in the conception and production of this book. In addition to the authors, these include the following: Richard Applebach, CFA; Evan Ashcraft, CFA; Fredrik Axsater, CFA; Giuseppe Ballocchi, CFA; William Barker, CFA; Christoph Behr, CFA; Richard Bookstaber; James Bronson, CFA; Bolong Cao, CFA; Lachlan Christie, CFA; Scott Clifford, CFA; Veselina Dinova, CFA; Pamela Drake, CFA; Jane Farris, CFA; James Finnegan, CFA; Ioannis Georgiou, CFA; Darlene Halwas, CFA; Walter (Bud) Haslett, CFA; Jeffrey Heisler, CFA; Stanley Jacobs; Vahan Janjigian, CFA; Eric Jemetz, CFA; Oliver Kahl, CFA; Erin Lorenzen, CFA; Richard K.C. Mak, CFA; Doug Manz, CFA; Alessandra Panunzio, CFA; Ray Rath, CFA; Qudratullah Rehan, CFA; Gary Sanger, CFA; Adam Schwartz, CFA; Sandeep Singh, CFA; David Smith, CFA; Frank Smudde, CFA; Zhiyi Song, CFA; Peter Stimes, CFA; Ahmed Sule, CFA; Barbara Valbuzzi, CFA; Lavone Whitmer, CFA.
We would especially like to thank Don Chance, CFA, for his outstanding contributions to the development of this book.
ABOUT THE CFA INSTITUTE INVESTMENT SERIES
CFA Institute is pleased to provide you with the CFA Institute Investment Series, which covers major areas in the field of investments. We provide this best-in-class series for the same reason we have been chartering investment professionals for more than 50 years: to lead the investment profession globally by setting the highest standards of ethics, education, and professional excellence.
The books in the CFA Institute Investment Series contain practical, globally relevant material. They are intended both for those contemplating entry into the extremely competitive field of investment management as well as for those seeking a means of keeping their knowledge fresh and up to date. This series was designed to be user friendly and highly relevant.
We hope you find this series helpful in your efforts to grow your investment knowledge, whether you are a relatively new entrant or an experienced veteran ethically bound to keep up to date in the ever-changing market environment. As a long-term, committed participant in the investment profession and a not-for-profit global membership association, CFA Institute is pleased to provide you with this opportunity.
The Texts
Corporate Finance: A Practical Approach is a solid foundation for those looking to achieve lasting business growth. In today’s competitive business environment, companies must find innovative ways to enable rapid and sustainable growth. This text equips readers with the foundational knowledge and tools for making smart business decisions and formulating strategies to maximize company value. It covers everything from managing relationships between stakeholders to evaluating merger and acquisition bids, as well as the companies behind them. Through extensive use of real-world examples, readers will gain critical perspective into interpreting corporate financial data, evaluating projects, and allocating funds in ways that increase corporate value. Readers will gain insights into the tools and strategies used in modern corporate financial management.
Fixed Income Analysis has been at the forefront of new concepts in recent years, and this particular text offers some of the most recent material for the seasoned professional who is not a fixed-income specialist. The application of option and derivative technology to the once staid province of fixed income has helped contribute to an explosion of thought in this area. Professionals have been challenged to stay up to speed with credit derivatives, swaptions, collateralized mortgage securities, mortgage-backed securities, and other vehicles, and this explosion of products has strained the world’s financial markets and tested central banks to provide sufficient oversight. Armed with a thorough grasp of the new exposures, the professional investor is much better able to anticipate and understand the challenges our central bankers and markets face.
International Financial Statement Analysis is designed to address the ever-increasing need for investment professionals and students to think about financial statement analysis from a global perspective. The text is a practically oriented introduction to financial statement analysis that is distinguished by its combination of a true international orientation, a structured presentation style, and abundant illustrations and tools covering concepts as they are introduced in the text. The authors cover this discipline comprehensively and with an eye to ensuring the reader’s success at all levels in the complex world of financial statement analysis.
Investments: Principles of Portfolio and Equity Analysis provides an accessible yet rigorous introduction to portfolio and equity analysis. Portfolio planning and portfolio management are presented within a context of up-to-date, global coverage of security markets, trading, and market-related concepts and products. The essentials of equity analysis and valuation are explained in detail and profusely illustrated. The book includes coverage of practitioner-important but often neglected topics, such as industry analysis. Throughout, the focus is on the practical application of key concepts with examples drawn from both emerging and developed markets. Each chapter affords the reader many opportunities to self-check his or her understanding of topics.
One of the most prominent texts over the years in the investment management industry has been Maginn and Tuttle’s Managing Investment Portfolios: A Dynamic Process. The third edition updates key concepts from the 1990 second edition. Some of the more experienced members of our community own the prior two editions and will add the third edition to their libraries. Not only does this seminal work take the concepts from the other readings and put them in a portfolio context, but it also updates the concepts of alternative investments, performance presentation standards, portfolio execution, and, very importantly, individual investor portfolio management. Focusing attention away from institutional portfolios and toward the individual investor makes this