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Financial Analytics in Google Sheets

BasicSkill Level
4.7+
117 reviews
Updated 12/2023
Learn how to build a graphical dashboard with Google Sheets to track the performance of financial securities.
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Google SheetsApplied Finance4 hr15 videos56 Exercises4,650 XP25,517Statement of Accomplishment

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Course Description

Monitoring the evolution of traded assets is a crucial skill in the finance sector. This comprehensive course is designed to equip you with the knowledge and skills to build a graphical dashboard using Google Sheets. You will learn to track and analyze the performance of financial securities, focusing on historical prices and dividends of the hypothetical stock ABC. The course will guide you through the process of visualizing the prices of ABC, measuring essential reward and risk indicators, and comparing your investment's performance against a benchmark index. By the end of this course, you'll have a solid understanding of how to utilize Google Sheets to create effective monitoring tools that are widely used by traders and financial analysts in their everyday professional activities.

Understanding Financial Securities with ABC Stock

In the first section of the course, we delve into the world of financial securities using the hypothetical ABC stock as our primary example. You will learn how to source historical data for ABC, including its prices and dividends. This part of the course emphasizes the importance of historical data analysis in understanding market trends and making informed investment decisions. We will explore different methods to organize and present this data in Google Sheets, enabling you to gain insights into the stock's past performance and future potential.

Building and Analyzing Your Dashboard

The final part of the course focuses on building your own graphical dashboard in Google Sheets. This section is a hands-on experience where you apply the concepts learned to create a dynamic tool for monitoring the performance of ABC stock. You will learn how to implement various Google Sheets functions and tools to visualize data, calculate key risk and reward indicators, and compare ABC's performance with a benchmark index. The skills acquired in this section are not just applicable to ABC stock but can be transferred to any financial security, making you adept at creating versatile financial analysis tools.

Prerequisites

Data Visualization in Google Sheets
1

Monitoring historical prices

In the first chapter, you’ll be introduced to the problem: you have a time series of monthly (historical) prices for the hypothetical stock ABC from which you have to extract some meaningful information. You’ll be given some definitions (what is a stock? what are dividends?), and at the end of the chapter, you’ll be able to graphically represent the evolution of a stock price over a specific period.
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2

Monitoring historical returns

In this chapter, the core of the analysis will switch from historical prices to historical returns. You’ll learn (and compute) the main performance indicators of past returns, both in terms of reward and risk. Finally, you’ll be introduced to risk-adjusted performance measures: indicators that take into account both reward and risk.
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3

Monitoring the distribution of returns

In this chapter, you'll look at the full distribution of historical returns. First, you’ll learn how to build a histogram to describe the distribution of historical returns. Second, you’ll be introduced to the Gaussian distribution, a commonly used model for stock returns. You'll visually inspect if the Gaussian model is reasonable for the ABC stock returns. Finally, you'll understand potential flaws with the Gaussian model.
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4

Benchmarking performance

In this final chapter, you’ll benchmark ABC stock against a market index and verify whether ABC outperformed the benchmark or not. The comparison process will be done through several steps/metrics. First, you’ll analyze the cumulative wealth. Next, you’ll extend the comparison using different indicators such as Sharpe Ratio and Drawdown. Finally, you’ll examine the linear relation between ABC stock and the benchmark through the correlation coefficient. At the end of the chapter, you’ll be introduced to more powerful and advanced spreadsheet features that introduce interactivity in your analysis.
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Financial Analytics in Google Sheets
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Don’t just take our word for it

*4.7
from 117 reviews
78%
20%
2%
1%
0%
  • Joydeep
    yesterday

    Great conceptual material. The problem was answers using absolute cell references ($) not being accepted even if the answer was correct.

  • Maria Merlin
    last week

  • Gungun
    last week

  • Chinmai Tejaswini
    2 weeks ago

  • Satyam
    2 weeks ago

    GOOD

  • Sai
    2 weeks ago

Chinmai Tejaswini

"GOOD"

Satyam

Sai

FAQs

What financial concepts will I learn to analyze in Google Sheets?

You will learn to visualize stock prices, calculate reward and risk indicators, measure investment performance against a benchmark index, and analyze dividends.

What Google Sheets skills do I need before starting?

You should have completed introductory through intermediate Google Sheets courses, including data analysis and data visualization in Google Sheets.

What dataset is used throughout the course?

You will work with historical monthly prices and dividends of a hypothetical stock called ABC, building a monitoring dashboard to track its performance over time.

Will I build a financial dashboard by the end of the course?

Yes. The course teaches you to build a graphical dashboard in Google Sheets that tracks stock performance, similar to tools used by traders and financial analysts.

Is this course relevant for someone interested in a finance career?

Yes. The skills you develop, including calculating risk and reward metrics and benchmarking investments, are directly used by traders and financial analysts daily.

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