Financial Analysis & Deal Modeling

This unit develops practical skills in analyzing company financials, sourcing and formatting data, and constructing core valuation and leveraged buyout models. It also covers capital costs, transaction research, trading and research roles, and the ethical and regulatory issues that affect deal outcomes and investor trust.

Learning Objectives

• Analyze balance sheets and income statements (including common-sizing and DuPont analysis) to identify liquidity, profitability trends, and potential accounting irregularities using real company data
• Apply data-sourcing and data-cleaning techniques to locate past transactions, extract relevant financial metrics, and format datasets for valuation and modeling
• Calculate weighted average cost of capital and construct a basic leveraged buyout (LBO) model to evaluate target selection, capital structure, and exit scenarios
• Evaluate the impact of bond types, trading desk roles, research product integrity, and regulatory/ethical considerations on M&A outcomes and investment recommendations