Information Technology Hw1

Homework 1

1-17

a) The company I picked is target. Their page has a special section for investors where anyone can access their history, stock information, annual reports, SEC filings, financial news, etc. Looking through their page, paying special attention to their annual reports they seem complete and sufficient. All the reports listed include: a letter from the CEO, financial highlights, a financial summary, a list of directors and management, shareholder information and the 10K for the year. This last one includes the 15 required items, which give a detailed picture of their business.

http://investors.target.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=65828&p=irol-IRHome

b) After seeing target’s information given by E*trade I think it gave me a different perspective on how the company is doing right now. The data is more dynamic and it is easier to see how the company is doing. It also shows some other non-financial information about the company. On the other hand, I think that the company’s webpage is more complete to make a decision compared to E*trade but, E*trade is more dynamic and easier to understand.

https://www.etrade.wallst.com/v1/stocks/snapshot/snapshot.asp?YYY220_3OkaVgYPqBclXSsAU+ST3xwmir1KBnTmnoMq0an6l/2FMOyuaM/i6Rgj0rMMnuHztZG6e9OMv2QBd+AUEAtXtcKIGoaV3vnwgLCJ90tuIlvYKhPJIyI7ub0UzPjbFLJj8NdFQiL7Ckh8ve+fLzAApjcUyqOZ664byjE3A/JHwGCccTTZtiBgNyn9hXAigqiKwrDwzyzdghM1gstCjUKyiQ==

c) Value Line is another page that offers several tools in order to do a deep analysis of the company. Looking at target’s information in this Web site, even though is pretty much the same as in the other Web pages, Value Line gives the user the opportunity to play with the data and do analysis and projections. I think the information that Value Line provides is more than enough to make an informed investing decision.

https://research.valueline.com/research#list=recent&sec=company&sym=tgt

d) After comparing all these sites, I could see how data or raw facts differ greatly from information, which is more useful and meaningful. Target’s Web page shows a lot of data, which even though is important and relevant if it is not organized in a certain way, it would not make much sense to an inexperienced investor. Fortunately, there are other sites such as E*trade and Value Line that process that data and provide tools, graphs, news, comments, charts etc., to help the investor get a more useful information and therefore make better decisions.

2-29

1) Roberta is mostly confused on why it is so necessary to keep changing the hardware, as there is new software available. The “64-bit machines” can be a mystery for her for the same reason. I think her assumption is somehow accurate because they could keep their 32-bit machines and add on the new software without really having to change the hardware. On the other hand, 64-bit machines are capable of utilizing much more amount of RAM (264 computational values), which provides better performance and memory access especially for a business this big and handling so many operations. In addition, there are many programs that won’t run in 32-bit computers because they are designed for 64-bit computers but the 32-bit software can be used in 64-bit machines.

2) Some arguments against upgrading hardware and software:

a. Cost of new hardware and software

b. Training people on how to use the new machines

c. They do not really need upgrade the system because it has worked well up to today

d. Potential loss of information