3. Creating a Stock Portfolio

We began working on the Silver Dollar Stock Club Portfolio Summary spreadsheet.

We set up a sheet title, and column headings designed to help us clearly see the stock holdings of the club. We entered data, including stock, symbol, acquire date, shares, initial price, initial cost, current price, current value, gain/loss, and % gain/loss.

By using the numeric keypad, we were able to enter our numbers and values quickly and efficiently with the least amount of hand movement. We also entered formulas for Initial Cost, Current Value, Gain/Loss, and Percent Gain/Loss, both by hand and with the 'POINT AND CLICK' method. Using the Fill Handle, we were able to copy our formulas quickly and easily down columns. We used the Autosum button to add totals for Initial Cost, Current Value, and Gain/Loss.

We entered Functions to calculate Average, Max and Min, and to generate statistics for our data. Then we began to format the worksheet, changing the FONT, FONT SIZE, FILL COLOR and FONT COLOR, and used the MERGE AND CENTER tool to get our Title to look presentable.

These operations should convince you of the awesome power of Excel to analyze information in an extraordinarily useful way!!

Materials Covered: MS Excel 2007 - Project 2:
Formulas, Functions, Formatting and Web Queries, pp EX 81-106

An Overview of Basic Operations: An Excel Online Tutorial:

1. Click Here for an online review on creating formulas. Work on all three sections - Get Started, Use Cell References, and Simplify Formulas by Using Functions.
   
   Just go through the tutorial. If you also want to work on the interactive exercises, you'll need to work on a machine, like the ones in our lab, that runs Excel 2007 in order to complete this exercise.
   
   
2. When you're done, write an entry in your journal about this activity, and any insights you may have learned from this exercise. Did you find out anything new? What was it.
   
   
3. Since our work will depend on your knowledge of basic Excel operations, please have this assignment done by Sunday evening. Thanks