Select two firms that are trading on a Canadian or American exchange. The first firm should be a firm that you believe is not greatly exposed to business cycles (Recessions and Expansions). The second firm should be a firm that you believe is greatly exposed to business cycles. Explain why you believe your firms fall in each category. Using a concept discussed in this class (Betas), does your intuition appear to be true (You can use Yahoo Finance to find the Beta on each company)?

Look at the rate of return on the selected companies in the last 6 months (on Yahoo finance, go to historical data and look at the value of the share 6 months ago and today). Did the company that you selected seem to have been influenced by the current decline in the stock market? Which company was affected the most? How do the companies compare to the S&P 500 (you can find historical data for this on Yahoo finance also)?

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

1 Apple Inc AAPL As a technology company Apple is not as greatly exposed to business cycles as other ... View the full answer