Fundamentals of Investments 4th edition

Fundamentals of Investments was written to: 1. Focus on students as investment managers, giving them information they can act on instead of concentrating on theories and research without the proper context. 2. Offer strong, consistent pedagogy, including a balanced, unified treatment of the main types of financial investments as mirrored in the investment world. 3. Organize topics in a way that makes them easy to apply--whether to a portfolio simulation or to real life--and support these topics with hands-on activities. The approach of this text reflects two central ideas. First, there is a consistent focus on the student as an individual investor or investments manager. Second, a consistent, unified treatment of the four basic types of financial instruments--stocks, bonds, options, and futures--focusing on their characteristics and features, their risks and returns, and the markets in which they trade.

Table of Contents

Part I Introduction
1 A Brief History of Risk and Return
2 Buying and Selling Securities
3 Overview of Security Types
4 Mutual Funds

Part II Stock Markets
5 The Stock Market
6 Common Stock Valuation
7 Stock Price Behavior and Market Efficiency
8 Behavioral Finance and the Psychology of Investing

Part III Interest Rates and Bond Valuation
9 Interest Rates
10 Bond Prices and Yields

Part IV Portfolio
11 Diversification and Risky Asset Allocation
12 Return, Risk, and the Security Market Line
13 Performance Evaluation and Risk Management

Part V Options and Futures
14 Futures Contracts
15 Stock Options

Part VI Topics in Investments
16 Option Valuation
17 Projecting Cash Flow and Earnings
18 Corporate Bonds
19 Government Bonds
20 Mortgage-Backed Securities

Appendix A: Answers to Test Your Investment Quotient Questions
Appendix B: Answers to Selected Questions and Problems Index

About the Author
Bradford D. Jordan is Professor of Finance and Gatton Research Fellow in the Carol Martin Gatton College of Business and Economics at the University of Kentucky. He has a long-standing interest in both applied and theoretical issues in corporate finance, and has extensive experience teaching all levels of corporate finance and financial management policy. Professor Jordan has published numerous articles on issues such as cost of capital, capital structure, and the behavior of security prices.