Polaris Masterclass - Equity Research

Polaris Equity Research is a collaboration between BestTop Consulting and Springboard. Springboard have 10+ years of training experience focusing on equity research.

This programme comprises 10 hours of pre-recorded and live training on financial modelling and fundamental industry research. A real-life project will be provided to allow application of the knowledge and skillsets and a report will be tasked to be generated as the assessment for internship placement opportunities.

Mentor - Ke Yan

- Studied Master in Computer Science in NUS and CFA Charterholder

- Ten years in Equity Research:

• Three years at a regional broker (Religare Capital Market)
• Four years in independent investment research (Smartkarma)
• Co-founded Aequitas Research, mainly service institutional investors
• Founded DZT Research, serving both institutional investors and ultra-high net worth

- Frequently quoted by int'l media (Bloomberg/S&P/Reuters/SCMP/Forbes)

- Prior to that: five years in the back office function in SGX

- Mentoring students at Springboard Talent Management

Learning Objectives

• Learn essential accounting knowledge to understand financial statements
• Independently build financial model and calculate key financial ratios
• Conduct valuation on a specific stock and come up with buy/sell decisions
• Present professional stock pitch to pass technical interviews
• Explore various equity research-related career options

Training sessions are conducted via online video for flexible learning.

• 10-Hours Pre-Recorded Classes
• 3 Weekly Practical Assignments
• 3 Live Q&A Zoom Sessions

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Week 1 - Week of 25th October

• Build an integrated financial model on a listed company
• 30th Oct, 14:00 - Live Q&A and Feedback on Assignment 1

Week 2 - Week of 1st November

• Conduct financial forecasts and troubleshoot financial model
• 6th Nov, 14:00 - Live Q&A and Feedback on Assignment 2

Week 3 - Week of 8th November

• Conduct fundamental research and come up with equity report and stock pitch
• 13th Nov, 14:00 - Live Q&A and Feedback on Assignment 3

Weekly Learning Content & Activities

Week 1 - Build an integrated financial model on a listed company

• Accounting 101: acquire essential knowledge about accounting and financial statements.
• Financial Data Preparation: efficiently extract raw financial data from annual reports.
• Historical Data Consolidation: consolidate historical numbers into standardized financial statements.
• Build Your First Financial Model: Format a financial model and calculate the key financial ratios.
• Assignment 1
• Live Q&A 1

Week 2 - Troubleshoot your model and get ratios for future financial periods, and continue to balance your model and learn Excel skills.

• Making Forecasts: make forecasts for future numbers in the financial model.
• Troubleshooting Model and DCF: troubleshoot financial model and work on Discounted Cash Flow.
• Demo on Model Troubleshooting.
• Excel used in the Financial Industry: learn Excel skills often used by research analysts.
• Demo on Model Building for Kim Heng Offshore Marine.
• Assignment 2
• Live Q&A 2

Week 3 - Apply technical skills to write your own research report and come up with stock pitch slides.

• Exclusive Research Report Template: leverage on an exclusive universal research report template.
• Write Your First Research Report: understand key parts of the investment report.
• Fundamental Analysis: conduct fundamental analysis of a specific industry.
• Stock Pitch Preparation: demonstrate your research work in professional stock pitch.
• Career Path for Equity Research: prepare your career move in the equity research field.
• Bonus Track: use Bloomberg and Capital IQ to facilitate research
• Assignment 3
• Live Q&A 3