Stock Market Project
“ Rule No.1: Never lose money. Rule No.2:
Never forget rule No.1.”
Warren Buffett
*Name of group members*
 Name of Stock: Ulta Salon, Cosmetics and Fragrances Inc.
 Ticket Symbol: ULTA
 Price: $101.27(bought)
$ 91.05 (project end)
 Market: NASDAQ
 Business Description: Ulta Salon, Cosmetics and Fragrances Inc. is a chain
of beauty-product superstores founded in 1990, and located throughout the
United States. The chain carries drugstore makeup brands in addition to
professional products, and each store is outfitted with a full-service salon.
In addition to selling cosmetics, Ulta Beauty offers a wide variety of
skincare products, men’s and women’s fragrances and professionallylicensed hair care products. The company’s headquarters are located in
Bollingbrook, Illinois and currently operate 449 storefronts.
 Competitors: Sephora USA, Inc., Macys. Inc.
 Stock Choice: We choose this stock anticipating an increase in overall sales
due to the changing seasons and upcoming spring events. (i.e. prom,
summer vacations etc.)
 Name of Stock: Novo Nordisk
 Ticket Symbol: NVO
 Price: $45.39 (bought)
$42.67 (project end)
 Market: NYSE
 Business Description: Novo Nordisk is as German-founded company
known for manufacturing and marketing pharmaceutical products and
services, primarily diabetes care equipment and medication. Novo Nordisk
is also involved with hemostatic management, growth hormone therapy
and hormone replacement therapy, involving approximately 29,000
employees worldwide. The company’s headquarters are located in
Denmark, Germany and currently hold distribution facilities in 7
countries.
 Competitors: Eli Lily and Company, Pfizer Inc., Sanofi
 Stock Choice: We choose this stock after researching the company’s recent
success rates in regards to the stock market.
 Name of Stock: Vera Bradley Inc.
 Ticket Symbol: VRA
 Price: $28.15 (bought)
$26.74 (project end)
 Market: NASDAQ
 Business Description: Vera Bradley Inc was established by Barbara
Bradley and Patricia Miller in 1982. Vera is an American design company
best known for their colorful quilted purses, bags and luggage. The
company is continuously offering new patterns and styles to their collection
on a seasonal basis in order to appeal to women of every age. Currently,
Vera Bradley Inc. has 55 different locations, and its headquarters are
located in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
 Competitors: Coach Inc.
 Stock Choice: We choose this stock after researching the company’s
popularity over the past few years, and in anticipation of increased sales
with spring and summer arriving.
 Name of Stock: Cyan Inc.
 Ticket Symbol: CYNI
 Price: $4.08 (bought)
$4.37 (project end)
 Market: NYSE
 Business Description: Cyan Incorporated is a company established in
2008, whose headquarters are located in Petaluma, California. The
company is publically traded on the New York Stock Exchange and
mainly oversees the sales of public networking software and related
management software.
 Competitors: Cisco Systems Inc., Alcatel-Lucent
 Stock Choice: We decided to invest in this stock because it was
reasonably priced and doing well in the stock market at the time of
purchase.
 Name of Stock: Groupon Inc.
 Ticket Symbol: GRPN
 Price: $8.44 (bought)
$6.95 (project end)
 Market: NASDAQ
 Business Description: Groupon Inc. is a website service that features
discounted gift certificates to a wide variety of local and national
businesses. Launched in 2008, only two years later Groupon served over
250 markets and had over 35 million registered users. Each day one
“groupon” is advertised and on the site and if the pre-determined minimum
number of users sign up for that particular Groupon, the deal becomes
available for purchase. If the minimum is not met, the deal is simply not
available for sale that day.
 Competitors: LivingSocial.com, Saveology, Plum District
 Stock Choice: We choose this stock because Groupon has gained a lot of
attention over the past few years for its money-saving deals, and we
thought more people would purchase these offers due to the warmer
weather.
 Name of Stock: Amazon Inc.
 Ticket Symbol: AMZN
 Price: $368.19 (bought)
$350.80 (March 4th)
 Market: NASDAQ
 Business Description: Amazon Inc is an online distribution company
that many sellers use to sell their products. This company orginated
with products such as books and music. They have since expanded their
horizons to online streaming for tv shows movies and music. Its
headquarters are located in Seattle, Washington, and was established in
1994.
 Competitors: Ebay, Netflix, Hulu, Overstock.com
 Stock Choice: We choose this stock because they were showing
potential in term of growth and recently developed revolutionary ideas
pertaining to shipping. (i.e. drones)
Stock Value Over Time
Novo Nordisk
45.5
45
44.5
44
43.5
43
42.5
42
41.5
41
Novo Nordisk
Stock Value Over Time
Ulta Salon, Cosmetics and Fragrances Inc.
102
100
98
96
94
92
90
88
86
Ulta Salon, Cosmetics
and Fragrances Inc.
Stock Value Over Time
Vera Bradley Inc.
29.5
29
28.5
28
27.5
27
26.5
26
25.5
Vera Bradley Inc.
Stock Value Over Time
Cyan Inc.
4.45
4.4
4.35
4.3
4.25
4.2
4.15
4.1
4.05
4
Cyan Inc.
Stock Value Over Time
Groupon Inc.
8.5
8
7.5
7
6.5
6
Groupon Inc.
Stock Value Over Time
Amazon Inc.
370
365
360
355
Amazon Inc.
350
345
340
20-Mar
21-Mar
22-Mar
23-Mar
24-Mar
Project Summary
Unfortunately, we did not heed Mr. Buffett’s words of wisdom. By the end of
the project, all of our stocks except Cyan lost money. We sold our shares of Amazon
stock about a week into the project due to big losses. Our net worth went on a steady
decline the entire project, and we lost about $3,000 of the original $40,000ish we
invested.
We learned how easily money can be lost in a bear market. Although almost
every stock declined by less than 10%, the large amount of shares we bought of each
meant we could feel the damage of the stock decline.
We can ascribe part of this loss to a lack of diversification. Most of our stocks
were retailers, so perhaps investing in banks, restaurants, or other kinds of business
could have benefitted our group.
Also, we may have jumped the gun when we sold our Amazon stock. The
stock market is a long-term investment, so waiting out the dip in value may have
benefitted our group.
If we were to do this project again, we would diversify more – just retail isn’t
enough. Also, we’d buy based on reasonable amounts of shares, not by how much
money to invest (example: 100 stocks, not $100 worth of stock). We’d buy less of more
stocks, and wait out dips in the market. However, because this project is short-term by
nature, perhaps more buying and selling could have made us money. This was a very
informative project, but real-life strategies may not work in the simulator.