Equity Market Investing - Introduction

The course begins with a brief review of the key features of equities. It then reviews how appropriate they are as an investment for different investor types by looking at their risk, individually but particularly via indices like the FTSE 100 and the FTSE All-Share - which entails attempting to define and measure risk – and different investors’ time horizons. This leads on to risk-adjusted return and other key performance measurement methods – benchmarks – and their influence on the investment process. The focus is on longer term buy-and-hold strategies rather than trading, although as part of the course there is a review of the current public equity markets, dark pools, etc. The main focus is on the ‘BuySide’, i.e. the different types of investors and fund managers but the ‘SellSide’ – brokers, research, investment banks – is also covered.

There is then a review of passive investment via ETFs and their pros and cons compared to actively managed funds.

There is a review of a current active manager. This course is presented by a consultant with extensive knowledge and experience of financial markets.

Venue may change up to 14-days before the course start date. Enquire for dates.

Learning outcomes – will include a greater understanding of:

• The investment case for equities
• The importance of dividends to long run return
• The importance of costs to long run return
• How the riskiness of equities and their performance is measured and the drawbacks of some widely used measures
• Risk appetite and how it is measured
• The benefits and drawbacks of diversification
• How equities are traded – order books, principal traders and dark pools, etc.
• The Buy Side vs the Sell Side
• Financial institutions review: including:
  
  • Hedge fund macro momentum, event driven and activist
  • Retail investment fund…….directional and PEG
  • Global institutional investor….value
  • Local institutional investor……growth
  • Family wealth fund……. eclectic
  • Endowment fund…. picking external managers for public equity long and short and alternatives
• The range of investment strategies, including passive vs active
• How research can add value
• The qualitative analysis toolkit
  
  • Porter’s five forces
  • SWOT
  • PESTEL
  • The capital cycle
  • Industry life-cycle
  • Management quality and strategy
  • Earnings quality
  • Management incentives
  • Corporate strategy
  • ESG
• The investment decision
  
  • Understanding a company’s business model
  • Focus on the Unique Selling Proposition of the company

This course aims to give an understanding of global equity markets (shares or stocks) and in particular how to invest in them. It is suitable for anyone involved in, or considering, equity investment as well as others in the industry. They may work for fund or asset managers or have asset management firms as clients. The course is also ideal for financial advisers and will benefit graduates and junior level executives interested in understanding global financial markets.

Those working in all aspects of financial services will also benefit from the course, including:

• recent graduates and other executives who have joined City institutions and are interested in understanding global financial equities markets
• professionals who need a broader knowledge of equities, equity markets and how fund managers make decisions about investments. For example those working in compliance, internal audit, finance, HR, IT, public relations and the middle and back office
• non-executive directors and trustees of pension funds who wish to familiarise themselves with financial market activities
• those working in investment banking, including those with job roles including: sales, risk, finance, operations, legal and IT
• financial advisers who need to advance their knowledge in light of RDR rules pertaining to equity products

No previous knowledge of equities is required prior to attending the course.