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Updated in [August 13th, 2023]

Skills and Knowledge Acquired:
This course will provide learners with the skills and knowledge to understand the tradeoffs between risk and return, form a portfolio of securities, calculate the expected return and standard deviation of that portfolio, use the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) and 3-Factor Model to evaluate the performance of an asset, estimate and interpret the ALPHA (α) and BETA (β) of a security, describe market efficiency and its implications for patterns in stock returns and the asset-management industry, understand market multiples and income approaches to valuing a firm and its stock, conduct specific examples of a market multiples valuation and a discounted cash flow valuation.


Contribution to Professional Growth:
This course contributes to professional growth by providing learners with an understanding of the fundamentals of investment finance and the ability to implement key asset-pricing models and firm-valuation techniques in real-world situations. Specifically, upon successful completion of this course, learners 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, use the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) and 3-Factor Model to evaluate the performance of an asset, estimate and interpret the ALPHA (α) and BETA (β) of a security, 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, and conduct specific examples of a market multiples valuation and a discounted cash flow valuation.


Suitability for Further Education:
This course is suitable for preparing further education as it provides a comprehensive overview of the fundamentals of investment finance and the ability to implement key asset-pricing models and firm-valuation techniques in real-world situations. The course emphasizes real-world examples and applications in Excel throughout, and upon successful completion of this course, learners 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, use the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) and 3-Factor Model to evaluate the performance of an asset, estimate and interpret the ALPHA (α) and BETA (β) of a security, 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, and conduct specific examples of a market multiples valuation and a discounted cash flow valuation. Additionally, this course was previously entitled “Financial Evaluation and Strategy: Investments” and was part of a previous specialization entitled "Improving Business and Finances Operations", which received an average rating of 4.8 out of 5 based on 199 reviews over the period August 2015 through August 2016.