1.Look at the companies listed in Table 8.2. Calculate monthly rates of return for two successive five-year periods. Calculate betas for each subperiod using the Excel SLOPE function. How stable was each company’s beta? Suppose that you had used these betas to estimate expected rates of return from the CAPM. Would your estimates have changed significantly from period to period? 

2. Identify a sample of food companies. For example, you could try Campbell Soup (CPB), GeneralMills (GIS), Kellogg (K), Kraft Foods (KFT), and Sara Lee (SLE).

a. Estimate beta and R2 for each company, using five years of monthly returns and Excel   functions SLOPE and RSQ.

    b. Average the returns for each month to give the return on an equally weighted portfolio of thestocks. Then calculate the industry beta using these portfolio returns. How does the R2of thisportfolio compare with the average R2 of the individual stocks?

c. Use the CAPM to calculate an average cost of equity ( requity ) for the food industry. Usecurrent interest rates—take a look at the end of Section 9-2—and a reasonable estimate of the

market risk premium.

Gender in the Media Essay

Objectives:

• Identify 2 or 3 unifying themes from your journal entries.
• Describe and illustrate the unifying themes by using examples from your media journal.
• Connect the themes to concepts we have discussed in class (i.e. if you identify sexuality as a theme, analyze the ways in which the media sources reinforce or contradict what we have learned in class about gender and sexuality).
• Reflect on what you have learned from your observations of gender in the media this semester. 

Format:

• The Essay should be 1200-1500 words in length (approximately 3-5-pages long)
• Typed, double-spaced, in a regular 12 point font.
• Use citations for quoted or paraphrased materials
• Include a bibliography of sources used.
• Proofread for spelling and grammar.