Mycket av forskningen inom den finansiella ekonomin bygger på den effektiva marknadshypotesen som antar att information är korrekt prissatt och att det enda sättet för investerare att systematiskt nå överavkastning är att exponera sig för mer risk. I och med detta blir det relevant att studera om det finns andra sätt för att uppnå detta. En föreslagen metod för att uppnå detta är via De Bondt & Thalers (1985) contrarianstrategi, att köpa översålda respektive blanka överköpta aktier. Det råder dock fortfarande meningsskiljaktighet bland forskare om huruvida dess förekomst är rådande eller ej. Vidare är ett annat outforskat område om dess effekt skiljer sig åt beroende på konjunktur. Syftet med studien är således att undersöka om det existerar överreaktioner på OMXS30 vid stora endagsförändringar på aktiekurser samt om dessa eventuella överreaktioner skiljer sig beroende på rådande konjunkturfas. Data från 1996 till 2017 har använts med en formeringsperiod på 20 dagar och en utvärderingsperiod på 50 dagar.Resultatet mynnade ut i en överreaktionseffekt för de identifierade förlorareventen samt en motsvarande underreaktion för vinnareventen. Konjunkturen visade sig ha en betydande påverkan då överavkastningen var betydligt högre för båda urvalen under perioder av lågkonjunktur. / The efficient market hypothesis is one of the central aspects in financial research which assumes that assets are correctly priced from all available information and that the only way to achieve abnormal return is for investors to expose themselves to more risk. This gives an incentive to investigate whether there are other ways to achieve this. One method could be through De Bondt and Thalers (1985) contrarian strategy, which means that investors buy oversold stocks. The other way around goes for overbought stocks, in which investors consequently short them. There is however a variation in the research whether this method is proven valid or not. Another unexplored subject is regarding its validity in different business cycles. The purpose of this study is to explore if overreactions exists at the Swedish stock index OMXS30. This will be based on substantial daily price movements and whether these potential overreactions differ through the business cycle. Data on all companies included in the index from 1996 to 2017 was analyzed through an event study with an estimation window of 20 days and 50 days post event window.The main findings of this study show that loser stocks did overreact but that winner stocks in an opposite way underreacted. This means that both samples had a positive abnormal return. This abnormal return was substantially higher during recessions than expansions, which indicates that the business cycle has an important role when studying overreactions.

Stock return volatility has been shown to occasionally exhibit discrete structural shifts. These shifts are particularly evident in the transition from ‘normal’ to crisis periods, and tend to be more pronounced in developing markets. This study aims to establish whether accounting for structural changes in the conditional variance process, through the use of Markov-switching models, improves estimates and forecasts of stock return volatility over those of the more conventional single-state (G)ARCH models, within and across selected African markets for the period 2002-2012. In the univariate portion of the study, the performances of various Markov-switching models are tested against a single-state benchmark model through the use of in-sample goodness-of-fit and predictive ability measures. In the multivariate context, the single-state and Markov-switching models are comparatively assessed according to their usefulness in constructing optimal stock portfolios. It is found that, even after accounting for structural breaks in the conditional variance process, conventional GARCH effects remain important to capturing the heteroscedasticity evident in the data. However, those univariate models which include a GARCH term are shown to perform comparatively poorly when used for forecasting purposes. Additionally, in the multivariate study, the use of Markov-switching variance-covariance estimates improves risk-adjusted portfolio returns when compared to portfolios that are constructed using the more conventional single-state models. While there is evidence that the use of some Markov-switching models can result in better forecasts and higher risk-adjusted returns than those models which include GARCH effects, the inability of the simpler Markov-switching models to fully capture the heteroscedasticity in the data remains problematic.

Actions by both private sector organizations and legislators in recent years have highlighted the importance of the audit committee of the board of directors of corporations in the financial reporting process. For example, the Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002 has multiple sections that deal with the composition and functioning of audit committees. My dissertation examines multiple issues related to the composition of audit committees. In the first two parts of my dissertation, I examine the stock market reactions to disclosures of audit committee appointments and departures in the 8-Ks filed with the SEC during 2008 and 2009. I find that there is a positive stock market reaction to the appointment of audit committee directors who are financial experts. The second essay investigates the cumulative abnormal return to departure of audit committee directors. I find that when an accounting expert leaves the audit committee, the market reaction is significantly negative. These results are consistent with regulators’ concerns related to having directors with audit, accounting and other financial expertise on corporate audit committees. The third essay of my dissertation examines the changes in audit committee composition in the last decade. I find that while the increase in audit committee size is relatively modest, there has been a significant increase in the number of audit committee experts and the frequency of audit committee meetings over the past decade; interestingly, such increase in the number of meetings has persisted even after the media focus on the auditing profession, in the immediate aftermath of the Enron and Andersen failures, have waned. My results show that audit committee composition and its role continues to evolve with regulatory and other corporate governance related changes.

The Diploma Thesis is dealing with questions of investment decision-making in the area of IT and can be a complete guidance on the basic concepts of decision-making on the investment projects, methods of financial evaluation of such projects and the ways of its application in the sphere of IT. It is mainly aimed on the projects dealing with internal processes in IT organizations and optimalization of its management ? IT Service Management (ITSM). The paper deals with existing methodologies and standards applicable to IT Service Management and closely works with the latest library of best practices ITIL V3. The introduction gets the reader into the basics of the IT management, introduces the existent market standards and creates a liaison between the IT and business in questions of investments. The second part pays attention to the principles of ITSM and describes the benefits that can process optimalization bring to the company. The third chapter opens up the IT investment topic and introduces various methodological concepts and models used not only in the classical financial theory, but in the modern management practice as well. It offers a basic overview on the methods of investment project evaluation, e.g. Net Present Value (NPV), The Payback Period Method, The Internal Rate of Return (IRR), The Profitability Index, and the most popular one ? Return on Investment (ROI). The following chapter applies the measure of Return on Investment (ROI) to the projects of ITSM implementation according to ITIL. It shows the basic principles of the method usage, describes its main components and introduces the way of identification and evaluation of the benefits, which those projects bring to the business. Gained knowledge is based on the real practical examples ? several worked-out business cases created for the customers of the Hewlett-Packard Company. The last part of this chapter shortly describes several software tools for building the similar business cases and their own methodology. The last chapter in devoted to the situation on the local and world market and addresses the practical application of the methods of IT projects evaluation in the companies. The conclusion then summarizes important parts and key elements of the paper.

The financial situation and financial economy are to be controlled by a whole complex of indicators and their values looked on in the time progress and context so that the evaluation outcome may reflect the whole economic state of the company and enable to point out causes of the actual situation. If the firm shall be economically flourishing, the financial analysis has to be a part of the complex of the company's financial management because it provides a feedback between the expected effect of managing decisions and experience. The elaborated analysis is focussed on detection of weak and strong points of the firm. The goal of my diploma thesis was to elaborate a financial analysis containing my theoretical experience. Despite of the fact that the financial analysis does not bring a complete answer to all questions the company have been asking themselves, it is a great constribution to the evaluation of the past development, detection of problematical areas and prediction of the future development.

This graduation theses is about brand name valuation of ProLesk company. In the theoretical part is shown marketing and law conception of brand name and different methods of valuation. Marketing conception is based on the relationship product - consumer. In law conception is important the registration of brand name by national or international organisation. In the practical part is counted the value of brand name ProLesk company. There is used two methods - using royalty fees and excess return.

Diploma thesis deal with analysis of choice aspects of CRM system implementation in the company. There is demonstrated difference of order process workflow between and after implementation of CRM system. Profitability of contract is identified by statutive margin of profit.

Portfolio diversification is a procedure by which investor allocates and divides his or her funds into different type of securities. Unlike the investing all the funds solely into one security, diversification enables to reduce the risk of an investment by splitting one big risk into several small, unrelated risks. This master thesis examines the problem of diversification during a financial crisis, when usually the risk of an investment and uncertainty of future incomes from investment is relatively higher. The main goal of this thesis is to define whether is it more efficient and beneficial to diversify the portfolio solely from national securities or conversely to diversify internationally. In the theoretical part, it offers literature background on topics related to capital market, fundamentals of portfolio and fundamental analysis. In the empirical part it examines the risk and return of three national portfolios on monthly basis during a 10-year investment period, which is separated into three individual periods, in order to better observe the impacts of crisis. In order to fulfill the main goal of the thesis, composite international portfolio was constructed and observed on the same manner as the three national portfolios. Afterwards the outcomes were compared and conclusions were stated. Internationally diversified portfolio has not achieved remarkably better result than individual national portfolios. Therefore, it may be concluded that there is no strong need for an investor to diversify his or her portfolio internationally, as it does not show better results as nationally diversified portfolios.

The master thesis focuses on investments in office buildings. The aim of the thesis is to make an evaluation analysis of investment decision with focus on its informational support and criteria applied in making investment decisions on office buildings market. The thesis is divided into four parts. The first part discusses current development on the commercial property market in the Czech Republic and analyzes in detail the development of the Prague office buildings market. The second part is about main factors that affect value of these properties. The third part describes investors operating on the market and the last part analyzes the economic efficiency of two selected investments. This master thesis is a pilot project generalizing criteria that affect investing in office buildings, and which can be further expanded.

This master thesis is about commercial bank valuation. The goal of the thesis is to explain the specifics of bank business and commonly used valuation methods. Selected method is then applied on a chosen bank. For this purpose, ČSOB a.s. was chosen.