Overview:

The stock market can be a very confusing concept. This activity will help you to examine stocks and analyze the results of each days trading in order to invest your hard-earned money.

Task:

You are going to choose between numerous sets of stocks found on the New York Stock Exchange. Whichever set you choose to work with, you will track how the stock does each day. You will find the opening price, the closing price, and you will then figure out the difference. You will keep track of this on the chart provided to you. You will also graph the closing cost of each stock. You will graph each stock daily! This activity will go on for 30 days. At the end of the 30 days, you will examine the track of each of the stocks and decide which stock you are going to invest in. You will write up a short paper that explains your investment decision and why you chose that particular stock. You may do more than one set, however, you must graph on each stock that you are tracking.

Below you will find pairs of stocks. The name of the company appears first, followed by the NYSE symbol for that company. The stocks have been paired according to products or services offered to the public by those particular companies.

Go to www.nyse.com to check the opening and closing cost each day. To check your stock, go to the top of the web page and type in the NYSE symbol where it says “Get Quote”. A new page will then open and you will find all of the information that you need in order to track your stocks.

Stock Choices:

• Pepsi ( PBG) and Coke ( COKE)

  Soft Drink Manufacturers

• Dominoes Pizza ( DPZ) and McDonalds ( MCD)

  Fast Food Restaurants

• Hewlett Packard ( HPQ) and Dell ( DELL)

  Computer Manufacturers

• Verizon Communications ( VZ) and AT&T Corp. ( T)

  Telephone Companies

• Yahoo Inc. ( YHOO) and Google Inc. ( GOOG)

  Internet search sites

• Hasbro Inc ( HAS) and Mattel Inc. ( MAT)

  Toys

• Campbell Soup Corp. ( CPB) and Hormel Foods Corp. ( HRL)

  Canned Soups

• Honda Motor Co., Ltd. ( HMC) and Ford Motor Company ( F)

  Automobiles

• Hilton Hotels Corp. ( HLT) and Four Seasons Hotels Inc. ( FS)

  Hotel Chains

• Maytag Corp. ( MYG) and Whirlpool Corp. ( WHR)

  Appliance Manufacturers

• Nike Inc. ( NKE) and Timberland Co. ( TBL)

  Footwear Manufacturers

Plotting The Results

Print out this page! This graph will be used to chart the opening, closing, and difference of your stocks each day.

Graphing The Results

Now that you have charted the stocks for 30 days, you will graph the closing cost of both stocks on their daily closure. Use the Graphing tools on Microsoft Excel. Make sure to use the graph that shows the track horizontally! Plot each closing cost!

Making Your Decision

After plotting your stock for the 30 required days, you will now look at your stocks and decide which of the two you would invest your money in. Write a 1 ½ to 2 page paper that describes the company that you have chosen, what they produce, and why you decided to invest in that particular company. Compare the two companies that you have tracked, and explain why you did not choose the other company.