Investments I: Fundamentals of Performance Evaluation
In this course, we will discuss fundamental principles of trading off risk and return, portfolio optimization, and security pricing. We will study and use risk-return models such as the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) and multi-factor models to evaluate the performance of various securities and portfolios. Specifically, we will learn how to interpret and estimate regressions that provide us with both a benchmark to use for a security given its risk (determined by its beta), as well as a risk-adjusted measure of the security’s performance (measured by its alpha). Building upon this framework, market efficiency and its implications for patterns in stock returns and the asset-management industry will be discussed. Finally, the course will conclude by connecting investment finance with corporate finance by examining firm valuation techniques such as the use of market multiples and discounted cash flow analysis. The course emphasizes real-world examples and applications in Excel throughout. This course is the first of two on Investments that I am offering online (“Investments II: Lessons and Applications for Investors” is the second course).
The over-arching goals of this course are to build an understanding of the fundamentals of investment finance and provide an ability to implement key asset-pricing models and firm-valuation techniques in real-world situations. Specifically, upon successful completion of this course, you 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
• Understand the real-world implications of the Separation Theorem of investments
• Use the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) and 3-Factor Model to evaluate the performance of an asset (like stocks) through regression analysis
• Estimate and interpret the ALPHA (α) and BETA (β) of a security, two statistics commonly reported on financial websites
• 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
• Conduct specific examples of a market multiples valuation and a discounted cash flow valuation
This course was previously entitled “Financial Evaluation and Strategy: Investments” and was part of a previous specialization entitled "Improving Business and Finances Operations", which is now closed to new learner enrollment. “Financial Evaluation and Strategy: Investments” received an average rating of 4.8 out of 5 based on 199 reviews over the period August 2015 through August 2016. You can view a detailed summary of the ratings and reviews for this course in the Course Overview section.
This course is part of the iMBA offered by the University of Illinois, a flexible, fully-accredited online MBA at an incredibly competitive price. For more information, please see the Resource page in this course and onlinemba.illinois.edu.
Status: Finance
Finance
Status: Financial Market
Financial Market
Intermediate·Course·27 hours
Featured reviews
SX
5.0·Reviewed Nov 10, 2018
One of the best courses across platforms- classroom or online that I have taken. Huge real life value addition. Professor Scott has worked incredibly hard in putting this valuable content.
WK
5.0·Reviewed Feb 16, 2021
Great content and excellent presentation! This was not my first investment course but certainly the most enjoyable one. Many thanks!
MS
5.0·Reviewed Nov 11, 2019
This course is heavy but I learned so much and the information is very relevant and helpful for better understanding financial investments.
FV
4.0·Reviewed Jul 28, 2017
Normal course work was very good. The Honors content was a bit disappointing in that I finished it before the weeks deadline but never received a grade.
PT
5.0·Reviewed Aug 30, 2017
Great course and professor. Packs a lot of information and did not find any mistakes. Very smooth course overall. Highly recommended.
AT
5.0·Reviewed Apr 9, 2020
The concepts are very well explained with practical examples.The real world examples makes us understand the concepts better and gives us a better understanding of implementing them.
VW
5.0·Reviewed Sep 2, 2020
This course is very resourceful and full of useful information that can help me understand accounting and finance information a lot better!
BN
5.0·Reviewed Mar 28, 2018
I've taken several investments classes on Coursera and this is the best presentation of CAPM I've seen. Really systematic and entertaining presentation. I will recommend it to friends.
JA
4.0·Reviewed Dec 12, 2016
This is a great course, highly recommend it, but make sure you have the bandwidth to climb a steep learning curve if you aren't in the investment world.
VV
5.0·Reviewed Mar 5, 2018
All the examples were helpful in providing a lot of real world perspectives and was beneficial to someone who had already done a similar course.
PE
5.0·Reviewed Jul 11, 2020
very good combination of learn material, how the professor teach, through case of real world examples, thanks a lot!
D
5.0·Reviewed Nov 21, 2018
I learned a lot from this course. This course has fundamentally changed the way I understand investments. I hope to apply my knowledge in real world situation.
All reviews
Showing: 20 of 215
All Learners
All Stars
Most Helpful
J
Jen B
2.0
·Reviewed Nov 16, 2018
The module videos are unnecessarily long. Though there is a lot to cover, I found the course less structured and on point compared to many other courses I’ve taken. Rather than breaking down a complex topic, I felt more confused during this course. I took key concepts and researched on my own to understand the material. After 5 hours of videos in one module, researching further to try to understand what I should be learning in these videos is frustrating. I recommend the professor consider rerecording this course, edit video lectures to 1/2-time (eliminate irrelevant information) tailor the manner of teaching to a beginner level, stay focused on relevant content and avoid digressing. Also, the obvious plugs for the MBA program are unnecessary - professor always mentions what the enrolled students will be doing in addition... that is not necessary for viewers who are not taking this as part of the program. On a positive note, the professor knows this material and is also very passionate about the topic and does his best to inject humor.
B
Ben Nowak
5.0
·Reviewed Mar 28, 2018
I've taken several investments classes on Coursera and this is the best presentation of CAPM I've seen. Really systematic and entertaining presentation. I will recommend it to friends.
S
Sachin Pratik Xalxo
5.0
·Reviewed Nov 11, 2018
One of the best courses across platforms- classroom or online that I have taken. Huge real life value addition. Professor Scott has worked incredibly hard in putting this valuable content.
L
Li Zhu
5.0
·Reviewed Apr 29, 2018
This is by far the best-made course I've ever studied on Coursera.
I enjoy every bit of the lectures and learn a lot besides the basics listed in the curriculum.
It's really the insights that's really valuable and worth learning.
I've spend four weekends on this course and I'm perfectly glad with it.
If you're looking to understand finance, learn this one.
D
Dan Hewitt
5.0
·Reviewed Nov 13, 2016
This was a fantastic course, with a realistically attainable amount of material, and a humble, knowledgable professor whose teaching style makes a normally difficult topic very easy to understand.
K
Karen Finocchio Lubeck
5.0
·Reviewed Dec 8, 2017
Professor Weisbenner is fabulous! He is able to make anyone understand complex investment topics through his delivery and curriculum design. You are missing out not taking Investments from him!
A
Artem Arakcheev
5.0
·Reviewed Nov 7, 2019
Awesome course on Investment. I enjoyed lectures, quizzes and peer assignments. There is a lot to learn and benefits can be significant. Thank you professor Scott.
J
Junjie Gu
4.0
·Reviewed Jun 1, 2020
The professor did gave a good overview of CAPM and DCF and helped me to learn in this area. Before taking the course, I was expecting that it'd been enough to complete the course just by watching the video only. It turned out that I have to spend more time to do additional study in order to understand the content in the video. Maybe I am in an engineering major and this course is not for the beginner; but it would be better to give some key concepts a good explanation (such as why DCF can value a firm).
Also, it seems no staff to answer the questions in May 2020.
L
Luis Fernando Rivera Mendoza
5.0
·Reviewed Jun 24, 2020
It is a really complete course with a lot of good content and information on investments, it actually feels like two courses in one. I personally liked the profesor for this course, his enthusiasm for the topic and the goal to make the course good, fun and understandable are obvious and transmit greatly to us as students. I have to say that I found some stages of the course a little hard to understand but looking at the way the professor was so exited about this topics only makes me want to study more and get to understand everything more in depth. As someone with more of a background in the construction business all this topics are a little new but at the same time i am able to se their use in my industry. Really just a great course. Thank you.
A
Alexandre Silwa
5.0
·Reviewed May 11, 2021
Without a doubt this is the best finance course I have ever studied. Prof. Scott Weisbenner holds all the information and transmits it in a very didactic way. However the only inconvenience is that he speaks very fast and, for those who do not have English as their native language, it is very difficult to follow him. As a result, it is an almost mandatory course for those who intend to undertake and work in finance! I guarantee: IT'S VERY WORTH IT!
J
Jola Danaj
5.0
·Reviewed Jul 26, 2017
The course is well structured and easy to follow - especially from someone who is working full time as well. The modules are straight to the point and with good examples. I was quite happy with the course.
One way to improve would be to have more shorter videos and divide examples into different videos.
M
M L
5.0
·Reviewed Aug 31, 2019
Great class!
Very interesting content and Mr Weisbenner is an exceptional Teacher.
The course builds a bridge between the theoretical foundation and the practical appliance and on top of that Mr Weisbenner makes it a lot fun! Would take any class with him in the future!
A
Ana Paula Molina
5.0
·Reviewed May 18, 2018
it was a very nice course. Really easy to understand and get in track with the professor. Modules can be done in a very short time if you work more hours but can also be done in a long period with no rush at all, so you can play with your time!
R
Rodrigo Flores
5.0
·Reviewed Apr 9, 2017
I've tried taking lots of investing classes. This is the first one that brought it all together. It's basic enough for beginners but I believe challenging for people who are more advanced. Excellent balance of theory and application.
J
Jafed Encinas Garcia
5.0
·Reviewed Jul 6, 2019
I enjoy the lectures. The professor has a good speaking and teaching style which keeps me interested. Lots of concrete math examples which make it easier to understand. Very good slides which are well formulated and easy to understand
A
Alexander Hegeman
5.0
·Reviewed Jul 5, 2019
I really enjoyed this course. A lot of good information explained very well. The enthusiasm and demeanor of the professor made the course all the more enjoyable. Looking forward to more great content by the University of Illinois.
M
Mohamed Mourad
5.0
·Reviewed Dec 12, 2016
Excellent course content from an amazing professor who took the time and effort to record more than 30 hours of video to make the students make the most out of this course. He has really interesting and exciting teaching style.
R
Raj Bommareddy
5.0
·Reviewed Dec 8, 2017
This course changed my thinking of investment analysis many different ways . Key take away is faculty interviews with strong research oriented talks gave me an eye opening for building new investment strategies.
J
Jacques Prinsloo
5.0
·Reviewed May 7, 2017
Really good for anyone who wants to improve their knowledge and understanding of investments. Also, take the Honors track to help understand the material even more. Prof Weisbenner is great and knows his stuff
D
Deepen (DJ) Joshi
5.0
·Reviewed Nov 21, 2018
I learned a lot from this course. This course has fundamentally changed the way I understand investments. I hope to apply my knowledge in real world situation.
