Saturday, December 21, 2019

Hip Hop Reflection - 1760 Words

For my lesson, I decided to teach Hip Hop history through a particular sub-culture known as â€Å"battle rap†. My student was Bradley Girigorie, a 21 year old male. I went on to explain to Brad that if it was not for battle rap, the culture of Hip-Hop would be a lot different than it is today. First, I started the lesson by saying Hip Hop was more DJ oriented during the early stages of the genre. That rap battles during the 70’s and 80’s were more about crowd presence rather than better lyrics. I continued to explain that the first rap battle between Kool Moe Dee and Busy Bee ended up making a shift where the Emcee became the star of the show. Because of Kool Moe Dee’s victory, it revolutionized lyrical raps, which ends up being one of the†¦show more content†¦Now the phrase â€Å"verbally articulate† serves as better verbs than â€Å"understand† because verbal articulation is an action that a student must perform in order for the learning objective to be successful. Using â€Å"understand† as the verb leave too much for interpretation because there’s not a lot of ways to assess how well a student understands the content. Not to mention that the new learning objectives gives administration and students a idea of what my assessment will be at the end of the class. The new learning objectives correlates with Anderson Krathwohl’s (2001) Taxonomy table. Where students will be able to analyze attributing by breaking down Hip H op into one category (in this case, battle rap); critique the information; and generating a conclusion or an understanding of the content. Each learning objective fell under conceptual knowledge in the taxonomy table (Anderson Krathwohl, 2001). This is shown throughout the video, and I think that is something I will keep for my lesson redesign. The nature of the lesson involves a small section (battle rap) of a genre/culture (Hip-Hop) and how that section changed/shaped different elements of that genre/culture (rapping). Not to mention with the new learning objectives, I will be using more dates and locations for my students so they can get the knowledge of classification and categories (2001, pg. 29). Equilibration was used during this lesson. This was shown atShow MoreRelatedThe Impact Of Hip Hop Music On America1491 Words   |  6 Pagesdescended from all African culture and tradition. Today, Hip-hop music in America is generally considered to have been pioneered out of New York s South Bronx in the early 1970’s by a Jamaican-born DJ Herc. By the time mid-1970s, New York s hip-hop gained wide-spread popularity and the scene was dominated by seminal turn-tablists DJs Grandmaster Flash, Herc and Afrika Bambaataa. The rappers of a group named â€Å"Sugarhill Gang† produced hip-hop s first commercially successful hit, Rapper s DelightRead MoreEssay on The Globalization of Hip Hop Music1498 Words   |  6 PagesAccording to Wikipedia, Hip-hop music, also called rap music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted. It developed as part of hip hop culture, a subculture def ined by four key stylistic elements: MCing/rapping, DJing/scratching, breaking/dancing, and graffiti writing. Hip hop is also characterized by these other elements: sampling (or synthesis), and beatboxing. Hip hop music developed from partyRead MoreThe Youth Oriented Hip Hop Movement1498 Words   |  6 Pagessuch is the hip-hop movement. The youth-oriented hip-hop movement finds its significance in the lives of African-American youths in urban working class settings and their resistance to authority, as well as allowing them to voice their identity and address common issues concerning race, gang activity, drugs, violence, and sex. While hip-hop has been suggested to have negative impacts on youths in contemporary society, it is known by most to simply be a reflection of the reality. Hip-hop, as an artisticRead MoreThe Censorship Of The Hip Hop Culture887 Words   |  4 Pages The Oppressive Language Leading to the Degradation of Woman via The Hip Hop Culture Today There’s a powerful source brainwashing young minority women today, specifically the language expressed in Rap lyrics which is often embraced by the Hip Hop Culture recently. These young gems are being conditioned to value their worth centered around hollow, vain, and degrading measures. The lead directors of these measures are strong, empowered, talented men who come across as if theyRead MoreThe Hip Hop Generation And Its Impact On Society1371 Words   |  6 PagesDominiquie Gray English- 102 Argumentative Essay 6 December 2015 The Hip Hop Generation and its Impact on Society. Throughout history, Hip Hop has manifest into more than a simple form of life, but as a powerful cultural movement. Hip Hop plays a major part in African American culture, dialogue, fashion, and self expression. Today, Hip Hop has a joined people of many nationalities, races, and ethnicities as a society. The Hip Hop Generation has begun to redefine African American cultural normsRead MoreReligion in Rap Music1550 Words   |  7 PagesHip hop music, also called hip-hop,rap music or hip-hop music, is a music genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted. It developed as part of hip hop culture, a subculture defined by four key stylistic elements: MCing/rapping DJing/scratching, break dancing and graffiti writing. Other elements include sampling (or synthesis), and beatboxing While often used to refer to rapping, â€Å"hip hop† more properly denotes theRead MoreWhat is Hip Hop?1057 Words   |  5 Pagescontroversy regarding the derogative nature of Hip-hop, One cannot downplay the cultural influences that hip-hop has impressed on the world. Merriam-Webster defines hip-hop as the stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rap (citation). Although the conventional definition of hip-hop is generally correct, it does not adequately portray the gravity of the movement. Coined by the urban youth, Hip-hop has forced its way to the pinnacle of mainstream America. Hip-hop’s massive influence on the EnglishRead MoreHip Hop Culture And Culture1196 Words   |  5 PagesHip-Hop Culture and race have had a complicated relationship in the past two decades. It has been commonly referred to as â€Å"black music† and a reflection of black culture. However, recent studies done by the Mediamark Research Inc. showed that 60% of rap music buyers a re white. With the emergence of white, Latino, Asian, and other rappers with diverse backgrounds on the Hip Hop scene it is important recognize the changing color of the genre and the stereotype it holds as â€Å"black music†. Black cultureRead MoreHip-hop was a cultural movement. It emerged in the early 1970s from the South Bronx. Hip-hop came1300 Words   |  6 PagesHip-hop was a cultural movement. It emerged in the early 1970s from the South Bronx. Hip-hop came from the â€Å"ghetto† and it became a cultural force of social protest and creativity. But from the 1990s and onward hip-hop changed from a cultural creative production to one of mass consumption. Hip-hop began to grow and through mass marketing targeting larger and whiter audiences hip-hop evolved in to relying on the images of crime and sex. Hip-hop has changed from a tool of social change to cars, womenRead MoreTo Rap Or Not To Rap Essay1087 Words   |  5 Pagesby the music.† That quote came f rom an article called ‘Seb is Hip Hop’. All a person has to do is turn on their radio to a mainstream station and they to can get taste of the carnage. Rap and hip-hop are two of many genres that get a lot of attention for their violence, drug use, and degrading sexism towards women. Hip-hop started to gain a lot of attention in the 80’s to convey equality against racism. People thought that hip-hop was just a phase, and that no one would care about it after a

Friday, December 13, 2019

Company Layoff Free Essays

Historically, layoff is often associated with bad publications for companies performing it. Furthermore, there are various other negative effects that are associated with the application of layoffs. Sometimes, layoff is the only way that the company must perform, in the sense that managers of the company have no other solution to cope with problems of the company. We will write a custom essay sample on Company Layoff or any similar topic only for you Order Now Despite the comments of observers and researches revealing the bad effects of massive layoffs, company layoff still becomes a part of modern companies’ daily lives. Concerning the issue, this paper will review articles about layoff and several important factors. The review aims at creating a simple conclusion regarding the practice of layoffs and their tendencies. Afterwards, the paper will use one of the latest layoff policies to justify the conclusion and also to evaluate the layoff within a company. The focus of the paper is to describe the effects of company layoffs and present a practical example of the conclusion. Company Layoff Definition By definition, layoff refers to a termination of employment of an employee or group of employees due to unfavorable business situation. The term is common in the business environment and does not often generate uneasiness. However, mass layoffs often become the source of debacle and confrontation in the workplaces. Firing employees in individual manner does not generally raise too much problem because they generally contain justified reasons of why the employees’ employment must be terminated. In addition, mass layoffs often generate trouble due to the fact that mass layoffs are performed solely due to economic reasons. In other words, employees being laid off could have performed no mistake in hi/her job that deserves the termination of employment. Within this paper, the discussion is focused more on mass layoffs rather than individual layoffs (Layoffs, nd.). Why Layoff   Researchers identify two reasons concerning layoffs. The first category relates to the internal condition of the company in which layoffs are performed. Companies perform layoff because of profitability reasons. The goal of performing mass layoff is to reduce the labor cost of the company. This is true since in most manufacturing companies, labor costs become significant parts of the operational costs of the company. Therefore, reducing the labor cost without hurting revenues could mean enhanced profitability (Layoffs, nd.). However, some layoffs occur because management believes that revenues in future periods will go down. This could be the result of enhanced competition, problems with corporate supply chain, changes in managerial structure, etc. In order to maintain profit, management often decides to cut labor costs (Layoffs, nd.). Another reason of performing mass layoffs is external reasons. A downturn in macroeconomic conditions could result in financial problems for most companies. This macroeconomic downturn could have effects limited to certain industries or could happen nationally. In order to cope with such problem, companies could decide to cut labor costs and saves some level of profitability. This type of mass layoffs generally costs less debacles because ’everyone is going through the same problem’ at the time. However, there are also records that macroeconomic downturn and mass layoffs in some countries result in widespread class actions and public protests. General Effects of Layoffs   Layoffs are often performed as the last solution. In other words, layoffs are seen as the last solution to save a company from a terrible fall. Nevertheless, the fact often denies that premise. Layoffs often decrease corporate value rather than enhance it. Researchers state that this is due to the poor tendency of managers and business owners to look only to the financial aspect of the layoffs. In other words, they often neglect the intrinsic effect of the layoffs. The financial aspects of layoffs are generally easy to calculate, however, managers generally fail to assess the value generated by employees that must be laid-off. Thus, managers could well be loosing more value from the layoff compare to the financial savings they gain from the process (Hymowitz, 2007). Another bad effect of layoffs generally comes from the layoff that influence working environment. Layoffs often reduce employees’ motivation. Surviving employees generally becomes more wary and possess the feeling of unsafe which reduces the working performance of employees. Moreover, the feeling of unsafe could generate the decision to seek for new jobs rather than waiting with uncertainties (Hymowitz, 2007). How to Make the Best Layoffs Layoffs are generally correlated to bad business. The term generates negative atmosphere for most people in the working environment. Therefore, business owners and managers generally place layoff decisions as a last resort rather than a preferable alternative. Some alternatives to layoffs are: establishing a hiring freeze, relocate employees to other sections or departments, cutting managerial and administrative salaries, shortening the work week, offering early retirements, etc. However, if layoffs are imminent, there are some activities that could reduce the negative effect of mass layoffs (Sullivan, 2001). The first step in making the best of corporate layoffs is planning the layoff strategy. This includes identification of common problems that could happen during layoffs. Managers of the company are suggested to perform researches and benchmarking to the best practice of company layoffs. Identification and evaluation of all alternatives to layoffs must be performed prior to deciding any layoff decisions. Planning the layoff strategy also involves preparing the budget for layoffs, notifying everyone involves and affected by the layoffs, etc. The second step of managing layoff is making sure that we involved all the people that should be involved in the layoff decision, like CFO’s, HR officers, the corporate attorney, senior managers, etc. The company must them select a layoff expert, this person is responsible for the layoff process and to educate others on how to perform effective layoffs. In addition, the worker’s union must be involved within the process. Lack of educating the union leaders about the necessity of the layoffs could mean failure in performing effective and successful layoffs (Sullivan, 2001). The third step is managing the process carefully, this includes the preparation of a worst case scenario and socialization of involve people, setting the layoff criteria and maintain the credibility of the criteria during the process, identification of top performers, the people that the company cannot afford to loose and protecting them, etc (Sullivan, 2001). RadioShack RadioShack Corporation is a chain of electronic retail stores in the United States, Europe, Central America and South America. The company has 6,000 stores in USA and has reported sales of $ 4.6 billion in 2006. In August 10, 2006, the company announces the layoff of 400 to 450 employees at the company headquarters. Company officials assert this action is necessary to reduce company’s overhead expense and enhance competitive position in the marketplace in the long term. The action is also decided to support small number of stores having financial trouble. In the company headquarters, 1 out of 5 positions are eliminated which affected employees of all levels in RadioShack. The layoff decision by the company is widely understood by many observers; however, the layoff generates significant controversy because of the manner in which the layoffs are performed. The 400 employees are notified of the layoff 10 days in advance of the actual layoff. Email notification was delivered to employees who were terminated. In August 10, 2006, employees were sent the emails and they were given 30 minutes to pack up and say goodbye to co-workers and then meet their senior supervisors. After the meeting, a larger meeting was held to deliver the employees with their benefit packages and ask their questions. This manner of layoffs generates a widespread public attention. Many state that they have never seen such amount of employees laid off by emails. According to the general practice of corporate conduct, this demonstrates the lack of sensitivity by corporate management. The company has performed various efforts to delete reportage of this incident. According to some observers, this is one of the worst practices of corporate layoff in the history of corporate social responsibility. There are many articles that respond with cynicism in reaction of the poor methods of firing people who have been contributing to the company’s success, some even for many years. I believe that the company will not obtain the value they aim for when they decided to perform this layoff decision. As discussed above, there should be various measures to face the negative effects of layoffs to employee morale. Insensitive behaviors like one performed by RadioShack will significantly hurt employee morale and their respect to the managers of the company. In result, working productivity could be seriously affected. Bibliography Hymowitz. Carol. 2007. ‘Why Layoffs Could Cost More Than They’. CareerJournal. Retrieved March 24, 2007 from http://www.careerjournaleurope.com/columnists/inthelead/20010725-inthelead.html ‘RadioShack lays off employees via e-mail’. 2006. USATODAY. Retrieved March 24, 2007 from http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2006-08-30-radioshack-email-layoffs_x.htm Save‘Layoffs Common but Still a Company’s Last Resort’. N.d. Jobwerx. Retrieved March 24, 2007 from http://www.jobwerx.com/HR/layoffs_common.html Slaggle, Matt, 2006. ‘RadioShack to offer free online training’. USA TODAYRetrieved   March 24, 2007 frrom http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2006-10-18-radio-shack-classes_x.htm Sullivan, John. 2001. ‘Key Steps in Effective Layoffs’. ERE.net. Retrieved March 24, 2007 from http://www.ere.net/articles/default.asp?d=HCID={B6BCB155-2D2F-4C2E-82EC-CB33C6D1E3F9} How to cite Company Layoff, Essay examples

Thursday, December 5, 2019

Business Fundamental Analysis Reasons and Magnitude

Question: Describe about the Business Fundamental Analysis for Reasons and Magnitude. Answer: Introduction Trying to quantify and identify the reasons and magnitude of movements in stock prices is one of the most important and challenging jobs for any financial analyst or advisory. Indeed, the movement is because of a lot of factors. Fundamental analysis is an extremely common and useful tool often employed to make some sense of this seemingly random activity as there are so many factors which contribute to stock price movements that identifying the factor perhaps becomes the biggest challenge. The fundamental analysis thus also seeks to find the true value of the company. As a thumb rule the companies which are more valuable than what the current market value is as per fundamental analysis are attractive investment opportunities and vice versa. Top down analysis involves studying the macro factors and trying to gauge how it would affect the business, profits of the particular company in question and consequently also trying to gauge if any of the macro factors could have a significant effect on the future profits and price movements. For example, in economy with shrinking incomes and GDP and negative growth forecasts one can safely assume that a company which is in the business of selling luxury items might take a hit in its profits owing to the current economic scenario. For this purpose, we look at various data release statements from regulatory and authorised bodies such as RBA (Reserve Bank of Australia). The industry is obviously studied to gauge what conditions prevail in the industry and what the future might hold for the company. The recent developments and events in the particular industry can also help one determine what the future growth potential and future earnings might for a particular company in the same ind ustry. It is also important to study and know what the competitors are doing and what their market share is, what their core competencies are. For example, if a company in telecommunications sector is not having the adequate infrastructure in place to provide data services to its subscriber one can safely estimate that their profits might be hampered as a result of this, especially if the other players in the same industry have a well-managed infrastructure. For this purpose, the main analysis is quantitative and the source is various media articles available on the internet. Finally, the companys financial statements and operating performance is analysed to see where the companies stand in terms of their competitors and the industry. For example, studying a companys liquidity position would give an analyst an idea if the company is well equipped to leverage on an opportunity which might come its way. Financial ratios in that sense can play a very important and enlightening role, bu t they are not without their limitations. An ideal mix for fundamental analysis would be financial ratios, qualitative analysis and comparative analysis. For deriving the companys current and recent financial and operating performance the best source is their annual report, usually available on their web-sites. The ultimate aim of fundamental analyst is to arrive at a value or a set of values of a particular stock also called the intrinsic value in technical jargon.(Abarbanell Bushee, 1997) In essence every stock tends to revert to its intrinsic price. Hence If a stock is priced higher than intrinsic value it can be said to be overpriced while if it said to be priced lower than its intrinsic value it can be said to be overpriced.(Seng, 2012) About the companies A brief about the two companies chosen for the study has been provided before we proceed for the fundamental analysis. About Santos: Business and Mission Statement Santos Limited is Australias leading energy company and provides energy to homes, businesses and major industries in the Asia Pacific region. It was established in 1954 and is leading oil and gas producer. Santos when expanded actually means South Australia Northern Territory Oil Search. Santos aspires to be a leading energy company globally and for that it aspires to gain a foothold in the South Asian markets. About Origin Energy: Business and Mission Statement Origin Energy is a leading Australian company in the energy sector and their main business is supply of energy and sleeping electricity and Gorging Energy considers it as their responsibility to provide a reliable, affordable and sustainable supply of energy to the communities we serve Top down analysis For the top down analysis following are the parameters we have narrowed down to describe the overall health of the Australian economy. The figures are released by RBA. Economic Growth: The RBA forecasts the economic growth of Australian economy at 3.3%. This is in sync with the growth rate which happened during 2015-16 also at 3.3% GDP: The Australian GDP stands at 1.62 trillion in terms of US dollars as of 2015. The GDP is dominated by the services sector but significant contributions include those from mining, manufacturing and agriculture. Inflation: Inflation stands at 1% as per September data released by RBA. The inflation during September last year was around 1.5% while over the last one year never did it fall below 1% and it didnt exceed 1.7%. These are overall stable numbers. Cash Rate: The official cash rate or the OCR as it is commonly called is an important tool deployed by the RBA to influence the monetary policy. It is most effective for countering inflation and influencing the demand patterns within the economy. The official cash rate is the main tool at the disposal of RBA which it used to influence and shape the monetary policy. The main usage of this is to control inflation and influence spending and investment patterns. OCR (Official Cash Rate) is updated every 4-5 weeks by the RBA. The current cash rate is 1.5% which is unchanged from the last release of August but an overall decrease of 33.33% if we compare it with the last year September figure of 2%. Overall there hasnt been much fluctuation over the last year in OCR hinting at an overall stable environment.(RBA, 2016) AUD vs USD: The currency pair of AUD and USD was trading at 0.77 while writing this report. As per the report released by RBA on September 9 the AUD vs trading at 0.768 vs the US dollar. The on year average for this currency pair was around 0.72 with a low of of 0.68 and a high of 0.8. Overall there hasnt been a fluctuation of very large or alarming proportions in the period. Looking closely at all the parameters we can draw a conclusion that right now the Australian economy is in stable/low growth phase. For a saturated market economy like Australia the growth rate projection is fairly decent if not very optimistic. The AUD has done reasonably well despite the crisis in the mining industry which is the biggest determinant of its value. OCR, inflation rates etc. havent been volatile. In that regard credit must be given to the Australian economy for remaining resilient and stable in the wake of the big upheavals in the mining industry which is such a big contributor to Australias GDP and economic wellbeing. The overall conclusion that be drawn from top down analysis with respect to Santos and Origin Energy is that the macro economic factors arent going to play a major role in the growth potential and future earnings and consequently the share price movements. The Industry Analysis Coal remains the main fuel source for majority of Australias power generation to the tune of almost 80% while hydroelectric power confutes for less than 10% and the rest is taken by other sources such as wind energy, solar power and nuclear power. Different states have different policies for power and all the states are committed to increase their generation of power from renewable sources in a bid to reduce their carbon footprints. The Australian Energy sector like its global counterpart has to brace itself for some challenging times ahead. Some of the major challenges for this industry are: Managing rapid change: Everyone is looking at lower emissions in the future. Hence there is pressure on the companies to switch to more and more renewable sources for generation of electricity while at the same time still sticking to the conventional fuels. The phasing out has to be gradual and one which requires a lot of investments upfront. Reduction in operating costs: As the completive space becomes more dynamic it is the need of the hour for the companies to reduce their costs and provide services to end customers at the same rates. Indeed, there are lot many challenges facing this industry but we describe the two main challenges which could seriously impact the financial stability of these companies Methodology: Bottom Down Analysis For the bottom down analysis we havent calculated all the financial ratios and instead only concentrated on those ratios which are important for studying whether the stock is overvalued or undervalued. Thats why the financial ratios that we have calculated are ROE, Price-Earnings (P/E ratio) and book-market value. The ratios have been defined and the methodology of their calculation is described as follows ROE (Return on Equity) ROE or Return on Equity is considered as the main profitability ratio and is a measure of the return obtained as a percentage of the shareholders investments or equity in the companys capital structure. Generally, as a thumb rule the ROE should be higher than the required rate of return on the stocks. ROE can be calculated by dividing the Net Income with the shareholders equity. Both these figures are available on the companys annual report. (Damodaran, 2007) Required rate of return on equity is calculated using the CAPM Model which is Re=Rf+(Rm-Rf). Rf is the risk free return or the rate which the investors can get by investing in a security or an investment devoid of any risk.(Fama French, 2004); generally, the rate on a 10-year Australian Bond is considered as the risk free rate. (Rf-Rm) is the risk premium which stockholders seek as a reward for investing in a risky investment like an equity. Here gain Rf as described earlier is the risk free return whereas Rm is the expected market return. Beta is the measure of the volatility of the stock. For our calculations we have taken Rf as 4.2% which is the yield on 10 year Govt Bonds as per Bloombergs and the Rm as 6.25%.(Damodaran, 2016) EPS (Earnings per Share) and P/E (Price/Earnings) Ratio As the name itself suggests EPS is a measure of earnings achieved by company per share. This is calculated by dividing Net income with number of shares outstanding. EPS in isolation tells us not much but it is the first step towards calculating P/E ratio which is a useful tool to study the premium shareholders place on a particular stock.(Wan-Ting (Alexandra) Wu, 2014) P/E ratio is calculated by dividing the current market price with the EPS. P/E ratio of any particular stock is compared against the industry average to ascertain how a shareholders perceive a stock.(Gottwald, 2012) Book-Market value The book value of the share is obtained by dividing the book value of assets with the number of shares outstanding. Whereas market value is the currently traded price of a stock. A book-market value ratio is obviously the ratio between these two prices.(Oysazar, 2012) In basic terms if the ratio is more than 1 then the stock is undervalued and if it is more than 1 then the stock is overvalued. However, it is not always that simple and various factors such as the growth potential of the company, the industry in which the company operates and a lot many factors come into play while evaluating this ratio. (Kothari, 2004) Santos Limited The data required to calculate the various indicators is summarised in the table below. The data is obtained from their annual reports, websites such as Yahoo Finance and Australian Stock Exchange. Net Income/Loss (2698) million AUD Number of Shares Outstanding 1.77 billion Total Assets 21,926 million AUD Market Price 2.7 AUD Total shareholders equity 10,202 million AUD Beta 2.65 The calculation of the various ratios and indicators for Santos is summarised in the table below. Wherever applicable and available figures have been directly transported from annual reports. If not available, they have been calculated with the calculations clearly shown. ROE Required return on equity =4.2+2.65*(6.25-4.2) 9.64% EPS (234.2) cents P/E ratio Book Value per share 10,202/1.77 5.76 Book-Market ratio 2.13 Origin Energy The data required to calculate the various indicators is summarised in the table below. The data is obtained from their annual reports, websites such as Yahoo Finance and Australian Stock Exchange. Net Income/Loss (449) million AUD Number of Shares Outstanding 1.75 Billion Total Assets 33,367 Million AUD Market Price 5.03 AUD Total shareholders equity 14,159 million AUD Beta 0.88 The calculation of the various ratios and indicators for Origin Energy is summarised in the table below. Wherever applicable and available figures have been directly transported from annual reports. If not available, they have been calculated with the calculations clearly shown. ROE Required return on equity 4.2+0.88*2.05 6.05% EPS (59.5) cents P/E ratio Book Value per share =14159/1.75 8.1 AUD Book-Market ratio 1.6 Summary and Recommendation For the year 2015, both the companies made losses and hence a lot of parameters such as ROE and P/E ratio cannot be calculated. Hence most of our analysis is qualitative and based on the market-book ratio. Both the companies have gone through a challenging year marked by low oil prices and reduction/restriction in their exploration activities and the landscape of the industry shall remain challenging for some time. It wouldnt be recommended for any new share holder to invest right in either of the tow companies because the future looks uncertain and certainly even though the stock may seem outpriced at the outset the earnings right now are negative per share which doesnt bode well. For the existing share holder, the recommendation would be to adopt a wait and watch strategy. The book value is higher than the market value for both shares indicating that the share is undervalued and rightly so, considering that earnings of late have been in negative. Due to the fact that required return is lesser and the book market ratio is lower for Origin Energy than Santos one might conclude that right now investor confidence is tilted more towards Origin Energy. Conclusion Various quantitative and quantitative analyses were carried to do fundamental analyses of the two chosen companies. Right now both the companies are struggling due to the negative outlook and scenario prevalent in the industry. It wouldnt be ideal for a new investor to get in the company while for the existing investor one might wait and watch. References Abarbanell, J. S. Bushee, B. J., 1997. Fundamental Analysis, Future Earnings, and Stock Prices. Journal of Accounting Research, 35(1), pp. 1-12. Damodaran, A., 2007. Return on Capital (ROC), Return on Invested Capital (ROIC), s.l.: Stern School of Business. Damodaran, A., 2016. Default Spreads and Risk Premiums, New York: Stern. Fama, E. F. French, K. R., 2004. The Capital Asset Pricing Model:Theory and Evidence. Journal of Economic PerspectivesVolume 18, Number 3Summer 2004Pages 2546, 18(3), pp. 25-46. Gottwald, R., 2012. The Use of the P/E Ratio to Stock Valuation. Grant, pp. 21-24. Kothari, S. P., 2004. Financial Statement Analysis, s.l.: MIT Sloan School of Management. Oysazar, H., 2012. Advantages and Disadvantages of Financial Ratios. [Online] Available at: https://yourbusiness.azcentral.com/advantages-disadvantages-financial-ratios-1679.html RBA, 2016. Cash rate. [Online] Available at: https://www.rba.gov.au/statistics/cash-rate/ Seng, D., 2012. Fundamental Analysis and the Prediction of Earnings. International Journal of Business and Management, 7(3), pp. 32-46. Wan-Ting (Alexandra) Wu, 2014. The P/E Ratio And Profitability. Journal of Business Economics Research, 12(1), pp. 67-76.