Each group forms one or more hypotheses about how to select companies where the increase in share prices is expected to be higher than the average for the FTSE 100 companies. Examples might include (with variations) such things as:

a companies with a dividend yield of between 4 per cent and 5 per cent where the cover is not less than 2 b companies where sales have increased by more than 20 per cent per annum (over a given number of years), but profits have not (yet) increased c companies where profits have increased by more than 10 per cent since last year, but the share price is lower This exercise might be more fun if it is done live. But it is difficult to complete it during the 10-week period of a typical module. It is easier to do it historically. The decision rules are selected first, then they are applied to a sample of companies.

Some competition between different groups can produce interesting results. The results produced by the winners might need careful scrutiny.