FBE 529 - Financial Analysis and Valuation

Don't get fooled by the previous comments. The class is good, the material is good, the teacher is funny and loves what he does. The only MAJOR PROBLEM with this class is: All the fuckers that don't care and are on their laptops (and ultimately will be the ones complaining that they have not learned anything when they are the only ones to blame). Requirement for the SIF; Will teach you about: how to value a company, what is disclosed in 10-K and the importance of footnotes, the different metrics and techniques (unlevering beta, using comparables, etc.)

Course material is very relevant to my career, however Levitin is now 85 years old, and he does not add any value to the material. 95% of the class is doing other things on their laptops while he is lecturing. Learned everything on my own the weekend before the midterm.

The course is very hands-on, we do many cases and learn how valuation work under diverse circunstances

Scott is a great professor - he has a lot of energy and enthusiasm and is really fair on his tests. He goes pretty fast, so if you aren't great at finance, it might be a hard class to follow. I took M&A before I took this class and I think it would be better to do the reverse - take this then M&A. This class teaches you a step further from Dean Ku's core class and goes more into DCF and Financial Valuation.

I am enjoying the class but the professor moves very quickly.

The professor talks extremely fast and jumps all over the place. The content of the course is somewhat useful, but he makes it difficult to follow at times with his teaching style.

Scott Abrams is extremely enthusiastic and one of the most relatable professors at Marshall. The content is challenging for students without a strong Finance background but Abrams makes it worth taking. It's pretty useful to review and dive deeper into the financial concepts that most students haven't seen since core. Abrams for the win.

This course is quantitative and can help you develop attention to detail. The professor is good and caring, though he does go through material quickly. It is a helpful course for those going into consulting.

If you are like me and just want to do 1 finance class apart from your core finance classes during your MBA, take this class. Scott Abrams is a super fun professor who understands that a lot of the people taking this class are not finance nerds and just want to be able to speak the language. He can be unsystematic in the way he covers the syllabus but you'll learn to deal with it. Not a lot of course load involved.

I think that understanding valuation is critical for all MBA students. Abrams absolutely flies through content (~40 slides a day), so be prepared to print a lot of materials. I loved the class and learned a lot about the different methods of valuation. Strongly recommend both class and professor.