FIN321_ Term Project (1). San Diego State University FIN 321

Term Project Write-up: Walt Disney Co. For my analysis on forecast stock returns, I had decided to study Walt Disney Co. as my company of choice. With this study, I was introduced to Wharton Research Data Services (WR ...

Term Project Write-up: Walt Disney Co. For my analysis on forecast stock returns, I had decided to study Walt Disney Co. as my company of choice. With this study, I was introduced to Wharton Research Data Services (WRDS) database and was able to practice my excel skills through data analysis, regression analysis, forecasting, etc. Throughout this process, I became familiar with Walt Disney Co.’s financial performance and everchanging stock patterns as this firm had shot up in stocks between the years 1980 to 2017. I chose this company as my focus for this study to see if Walt Disney Co. is truly a good longterm investment and to discover what factors would keep this firm valuable in the stock market. Question 1 To begin the process of finding the stock return of Walt Disney Co., we used the WRDS database to obtain the Fama French data to establish the basis of the spreadsheet. We did this by clicking on the “All Data” tab which directed us to the option “Fama French & Liquidity Factors.” From this point, I selected “Factors-Monthly Frequency.” This lead me to the query form in which I followed the following steps: choosing our data range (1980-01 to 2017-12), selecting “price variable” (PRC) for the series information, and using “Excel spreadsheet (*.xlsx)” for the query output. I was then able to download the excel file that contained the variables excess return on the market, small-minus-big return, high-minus-low return, and risk-free rate. In order to access the company data for my firm, we repeat the process for how we gained access to the Fama French data but instead, we include the ticker symbol of Walt Disney Co., which is “DIS.” After acquiring both sets of data, I added the stock price data of my firm which allowed me to create additional columns on my Fama French spreadsheet. To further understand the data I had obtained, I researched the variables included in the data of “Fama French & Liquidity Factors