The study’s main concern was the extent to which the price earnings (P/E) valuation model and constant growth dividend discount valuation model (DDM) can estimate the intrinsic value of a share. The context within which the concern was addressed is the boom and recession conditions of South Africa during the period 1994–1999. The study used the following descriptive statistics to make a comparison of the performance of each model: <ul><li> Theil’s inequality coefficient; </li><li> coefficient of variation; </li><li> percentage improvement in the inter-quartile range (%IMP); and</li><li> the Wilcoxon test and the Kruskal-Wallis test. </li></ul> The study found that: <ul><li> the DDM is more efficient in estimating the intrinsic value in the boom period compared to the recession period. </li><li> P/E is more efficient in estimating the intrinsic value in the recession period than the boom period. </li><li> When the business cycle changed from a boom to a recession the %IMP increased for the DDM and the P/E model showing that there was no improvement in performance. Instead, it showed an increase in the IQR of each model. The increase in the DDM was smaller than that of the P/E model. </li><li> The difference between the absolute valuation errors of the DDM across the two phases of the business cycle (boom and recession) was not statistically significant while those of the P/E were significant. </li></ul> / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Financial Management / unrestricted

Most research on stock prices is based on the present value model or the more general consumption-based model. When applied to real economic data, both of them are found unable to account for both the stock price level and its volatility. Three essays here attempt to both build a more realistic model, and to check whether there is still room for bubbles in explaining fluctuations in stock prices. In the second chapter, several innovations are simultaneously incorporated into the traditional present value model in order to produce more accurate model-based fundamental prices. These innovations comprise replacing with broad dividends the more narrow traditional dividends that are more commonly used, a nonlinear artificial neural network (ANN) forecasting procedure for these broad dividends instead of the more common linear forecasting models for narrow traditional dividends, and a stochastic discount rate in place of the constant discount rate. Empirical results show that the model described above predicts fundamental prices better, compared with alternative models using linear forecasting process, narrow dividends, or a constant discount factor. Nonetheless, actual prices are still largely detached from fundamental prices. The bubble-like deviations are found to coincide with business cycles. The third chapter examines possible cointegration of stock prices with fundamentals and non-fundamentals. The output gap is introduced to form the non-fundamental part of stock prices. I use a trivariate Vector Autoregression (TVAR) model and a single equation model to run cointegration tests between these three variables. Neither of the cointegration tests shows strong evidence of explosive behavior in the DJIA and S&P 500 data. Then, I applied a sup augmented Dickey-Fuller test to check for the existence of periodically collapsing bubbles in stock prices. Such bubbles are found in S&P data during the late 1990s. Employing econometric tests from the third chapter, I continue in the fourth chapter to examine whether bubbles exist in stock prices of conventional economic sectors on the New York Stock Exchange. The ‘old economy’ as a whole is not found to have bubbles. But, periodically collapsing bubbles are found in Material and Telecommunication Services sectors, and the Real Estate industry group.

The aim of the diploma paper is valuation of economic effectiveness of the investment project in the sphere of optical production. The theoretical part introduces into the problems of investments and supplies a brief overview of standard evaluating methods. The practical part contains the description of the planned investment project, estimation of cash flow and determination of discount rate. After that, there is an application of the methods of effectiveness evaluation and sensitivity analysis for input parameters.

This thesis describes, analyzes and evaluates the creation and management of the project Chcikupon.cz. Part of this thesis is a business plan, which includes product characteristics, analysis of competitors, customers, suppliers, project staffing and marketing. The work includes analysis of the financial aspects of the project and it evaluates the return on investment. Thesis describes the launch of the discount portal Chcikupon.cz, and the success of individual promotional discounts with operations of the website by the end of 2013. The main contribution of the diploma thesis is the proposed strategy, which will lead to sustainable development of the project.

The aim of this thesis is to determine the market value of the company CARLA spol. s.r.o. to April 30, 2014 for external investor. The theoretical part details the metodologie for valuation the company. In practical part is presented the company, then is performed strategic and financial analysis. An important part of the evaluation process is a analysis of the value generators on the basis of which the financial plan is built. An essential assumption for evaluation is determining a discount rate. As a valuation method was chosen the yield method of discounted free cash flow to the firm.

The diploma thesis deals with the problems identifying the various types trade discounts in accounting and tax implications. The content of the thesis are specifically bonuses, discounts, gifts with purchase extra for free, loyalty programs and incentives in rental relationships. Alternative solutions to these advantages in accounting are given with regard to the current Czech accounting legislation and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The thesis is supplemented by modeling examples, where the accounting solution suggested from the perspective of the provider and the recipient advantage.

The thesis deals with some interesting trends and legal provisions and their impact, which in the Czech Republic has recently occurred. The first part concerns the insurance market. Attention is paid to the development and changes in pricing policy of liability insurance and sustainability of the whole system. It additionally influence and activities of the Czech Insurers' Bureau and laws relating to it. The second part is devoted to vehicles debt financing. Here is the main point the so-called "discount on credit". Another trend in the financing vehicles is its loss and the decline of companies that specialize in these products. To debt financing is also applied several statutory changes that do not always work as intended. Error legislators or way as a endless struggle, with those who circumvent it? All work is handled from the perspective of the car dealer that provides insurance and loan products as his additional service.

This thesis examines the effect of various factors on the sale of vouchers of group buying deals. The data for the analysis were collected from the website Slevomat for four weeks. The observation was performed daily at 8 a.m., 4 p.m., 12 a.m. Based on the existing literature and theoretical considerations, six hypotheses were formulated, three of which turned out to be consistent with the data. It was confirmed, that the decrease in time remaining till the end of the offer induces bigger amount of vouchers sold per time period. Positive reviews and the fact that the offer is displayed on the main page of Slevomat also positively influence the number of sold vouchers. The influence of the amount of earlier sold vouchers on the present purchases ("bandwagon effect") and of the size of the relative or absolute discount was not found. The "Monday effect", according to which sales should be lower at the beginning of the week, was also disproved.

We consider two game-theoretic settings to determine the optimal values of an issuer's interchange fee rate, an acquirer's merchant discount rate, and a merchant's retail prices for multiple products in a credit card network. In the first setting, we investigate a two-stage game problem in which the issuer and the acquirer first negotiate the interchange fee rate, and the acquirer and the retailer then determine their merchant discount rate and retail prices, respectively. In the second setting, motivated by the recent U.S. bill "H.R. 2695," we develop a three-player cooperative game in which the issuer, the acquirer, and the merchant form a grand coalition and bargain over the interchange fee rate and the merchant discount rate. Following the cooperative game, the retailer makes its retail pricing decisions. We derive both the Shapley value- and the nucleolus-characterized unique rates for the grand coalition. Comparing the two game settings, we show that the participation of the merchant in the negotiation process can result in the reduction of both rates. Moreover, the stability of the grand coalition in the cooperative game setting may require that the merchant should delegate the credit card business only to the issuer and the acquirer with sufficiently low operation costs. We also find that the large, highly-specialized merchants and banks are more likely to join the cooperative negotiation whereas the small firms may prefer the two-stage game setting. Our numerical experiments demonstrate that the acquirer's and the issuer's unit operation costs more significantly impact both rates in the cooperative game setting than in the two-stage game setting.

Tato diplomová práce je zaměřena na zhodnocení ekonomické efektivnosti dvou konkrétních návrhů k investici na základě příslušných metod vhodných k hodnocení efektivnosti investic. První část práce obsahuje teoretický základ potřebný k hodnocení efektivnosti investic. Druhá, analytická část je zaměřena na aplikování metod na dané investiční projekty. Ve třetí části, na základě těchto metod, je navrženo přijetí jednoho ze z těchto investičních projektů spolu s přihlédnutím k riziku investice.