The question of whether financial analysts can forecast stock movements or not has been widely debated for many years. This study examines if an investor has been able to receive an Excess return by following financial analysts? recommendations. We continue by studying if an investor has been able to earn a different Excess return by following different types of recommendations. The study includes more than 15,000 recommendations made by 10 first tier banks and brokerages on the Swedish market during the years 2003-2007.

This study is based on a statistical analysis of fundamental key ratios on the Stockholm Stock Exchange during the period 2004-2012. In total 35 financial ratios of 90 companies were tested, ultimately five ratios remained within the 5% significance level. These ratios were ROA, P/B, Total Yield, EV/EBIT and Operating Margin. A custom made investment model was created based on the purpose to achieve a risk-adjusted Excess return. The results in general did not show any significant difference in return between the model's portfolio and index.

An efficient market implies that the use of fundamental analysis should not result in Excess return, and that any return exceeding the market average can be explained by compensation for risk, accord-ing to The Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM). The focus of this study is to test whether the suc-cessful investment strategy developed by Piotroski (2000) generates Excess return on American data, after risk adjustment by using Fama & French?s (1993) 3-factor and Carhart?s (1997) 4-factor CAPM. Initially we form stock portfolios based on companies characterized by high book-to-market values, additionally, we divide them into different performance classes by ranking them with Piotroski?s (2000) measure of financial performance, F_SCORE.

This study is based on a statistical analysis of fundamental key ratios on the Stockholm Stock Exchange during the period 2004-2012. In total 35 financial ratios of 90 companies were tested, ultimately five ratios remained within the 5% significance level. These ratios were ROA, P/B, Total Yield, EV/EBIT and Operating Margin. A custom made investment model was created based on the purpose to achieve a risk-adjusted Excess return. The results in general did not show any significant difference in return between the model's portfolio and index.

This study aims to measure the effect of accounting conservatism and to identify thebusiness activities causing firms to undervalue owners? equity. To estimateaccounting conservatism, we have followed the hypothesis that no firm over time cangenerate a return greater than its cost of equity, i.e. CAPM. Thus, if a firm in factgenerates an Excess return over time, we assume that the Excess return is an estimateof accounting conservatism within that firm.The hypothesis originates from the corporate valuation model ?Economic ValueAdded®? which tries to adjust for accounting bias.

In line with Sloan (1996) but on European data (STOXX 600) we are investigating whether stock prices reflect information about future earnings contained in the accrual and cash flow components. The extent to which current earnings performance persists into the future earnings performance is shown to depend on the relative magnitudes of the cash and accrual components of current earnings. Moreover, we still find a significant positive Excess return (Jensen?s alpha and size-adjusted return) by replicating Sloans (1996) hedge portfolio by taking a long position in the stock of firms reporting relatively low levels of accruals and a short position in the stock of firms reporting relatively high levels of accruals. However, we find no evidence of negative Excess returns for companies with relatively high accruals, this somewhat lower the total Excess returns for all the portfolios.

In line with Sloan (1996) but on European data (STOXX 600) we are investigating whether stock prices reflect information about future earnings contained in the accrual and cash flow components. The extent to which current earnings performance persists into the future earnings performance is shown to depend on the relative magnitudes of the cash and accrual components of current earnings. Moreover, we still find a significant positive Excess return (Jensen?s alpha and size-adjusted return) by replicating Sloans (1996) hedge portfolio by taking a long position in the stock of firms reporting relatively low levels of accruals and a short position in the stock of firms reporting relatively high levels of accruals. However, we find no evidence of negative Excess returns for companies with relatively high accruals, this somewhat lower the total Excess returns for all the portfolios.

Background:Investments in different forms have always been popular to every human being. For the most common investments, such as stocks and bonds, there are loads of information to gather for the investor. Historical data like risk, return, dividends and fundamental data like annual reports are often very easy to find, regarding these kinds of investments. The background of this thesis is the lack of market information in residential real estate investments. A problem with this investment is that there is lack of information regarding risk adjusted return for real estates, which this thesis intends to present.Objective:The objective with this thesis is to study which alternative, directly-owned residential estates or stocks, who generates the highest risk adjusted return.

The purpose of this report was to compare Lilluns egg production with other Swedish egg producers based on the flow of nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium) in the egg production systems. The main focus in the report was the utilization rate of the forage and the excess of nutrients per kg egg. Additionally, the purpose was to identify the environmental impact from Lilluns egg production and compare the results with other egg producers. The inflow of nutrients associated with forage and poultry was compared with the nutrients that were exported from the production. All of the egg producers in this study had an excess of nutrients.

Background: Operating on the stock market is associated with risks. If a particular asset is not traded with the same frequency as the average market asset, this particular asset is exposed to a liquidity risk. It means that the investor might not be able to sell the asset at a desired time without incurring expensive transaction costs. The query is whether or not the investor is compensated with a liquidity premium for bearing the extra risk. Earlier studies on the Stockholm Stock Exchange have failed to prove that there is a relation between stock return and liquidity.

Over a long period of time, there has been a rich debate in the academic and financial world if active management can generate an Excess return. Many experts say that the current active management strategies is nothing more than a money grab that produces large gains, for banks and investment firms, through high management fees while producing no excess value for the individuals buying their service. In short, an effective market makes it almost impossible for fund managers to produce value for their clients in the long run.No argument has only one side though, other experts say that active management has a role to play because not all investors are rational. This irrationality can lead to mispricing on financial assets in the marketplace and in turn lead to an ineffective market where active management can fill a much needed role. The purpose of this study is therefore to see if active management strategies can create a higher risk adjusted return, taking management fees into consideration, during times of high volatility when the uncertainty is at its peak.

Ten colic horses and seven healthy horses were included in a prospective study aiming to evaluate acid-base disturbances in colic horses. Traditional acid-base methods and measurements of lactate were used to study prognosis and changes before, during and after surgery. Strong ion gap, anion gap and base excess were compared to evaluate their ability to predict lactate. Of the ten colic horses that went through surgery, seven survived, two were euthanised and one died. Significant differences in plasma lactate levels were seen between the group of survivals and non-survivals, p=0,000025. No differences were seen in pH and base excess between the two groups.

This paper investigates the compensation for risk in the context of the Swedish stock market with a special focus on downside risk. Using daily market data collected from the A-list of the Stockholm Stock Exchange between the years 1983 and 2005 the purpose is to answer the question whether Swedish investors are compensated for holding stocks with high downside risk, measured as downside beta. Using panel data analysis it is shown, in accordance with most previous evidence in international research, firstly that stocks with high beta values on average experience higher returns than stocks with low beta values, and secondly that stocks with high downside beta values experience higher returns than stocks with high beta values in general. On the other hand, cross-sectional regression methodology using a bivariate regression approach shows that downside beta does not explain Excess returns very well. Instead, regression analysis suggest that high upside beta does a much better job in explaining Excess return over this time period compared to downside beta.

Photovoltaic Systems in Sweden has longbeen heavily dependent on subsidies and grants to bring in a profit for the investor. Production of excess electricity is a major reason for this as the compensation for excess electricity today is low. However, there are businesses that have an electricityneed that are particularly suitable for solar electricity. These businesses have an electricity demand when the sun shines the brightest and if the Photovoltaic System is properly scaled, the excess electricity can be minimized. A golf club is that kind of a business and this thesis aims to examinate the solar power potential for golf businesses in Sweden.Nine golf clubs was selected from different locations in Sweden.

This thesis examines underpricing and the long run performance of IPO firms on the Swedish equity market during 1994-2010. We further investigate whether any correlation exist between underpricing and post-IPO performance during 36 months. We use a sample of 80 IPO firms. To examine the aftermarket performance we compare total return of each firm with a matching industry index. In order to strengthen our analysis, we run a second test, comparing actual return for each firm with expected return, adjusted for firm specific risk.