IndexTo what extent are markets efficient? Given your position, how would you allocate capital, as a mid-cap equity fund manager? Analyze any company in the S&P MidCap 400 Index and provide a buy or sell recommendation with a price target. Your response should include a one-page investment thesis, rationale, and some form of evaluation work. Investment Thesis To what extent are markets efficient? Given your position, how would you allocate capital, as a mid-cap equity fund manager? Markets are not completely efficient because investors can identify patterns and invest according to those patterns to beat the market. Although close to efficient, markets are merely approximations of rational action. Markets are too volatile to represent complete rationality; spikes in market prices often occur around earnings and other company announcements and exceed the expected change from a purely financial perspective. Therefore, markets incorporate the irrationality of human emotions into price determination and are therefore themselves inefficient. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Assuming markets are inefficient, there are opportunities for investors to take advantage of trends and make money. In today's market, as a mid-cap equity fund manager, I would be extremely aggressive in the short term to maximize profit. Within the next few years, I expect the S&P 500 Index to fall to around $2,500. As a result, I would liquidate my holdings within a year of my initial investment, wait for a market decline, and then reinvest in a different asset allocation at a lower market price. Today I would invest 60% of my portfolio in the telecommunications equipment sector and 40% in the software sector because I would liquidate my assets shortly after the implementation of 5G wireless communication in the United States. Ciena Corp. (CIEN) and LogMeIn Inc. (LOGM) are examples of stocks in both sectors whose prices would rise with the deployment of 5G. The four major US wireless carriers (Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile) are targeting late 2018 and early 2019 for mass 5G deployment. Therefore, I would invest now and liquidate all my holdings after 5G becomes commercially available. Analyze any company in the S&P MidCap 400 and provide a buy or sell recommendation with a price target. Your response should include a one-page investment thesis, rationale, and some form of evaluation work. Company Overview: CyberArk (CYBR) is a privileged access security company focused on protecting enterprise data, networks and infrastructure from malicious actors. CyberArk protects critical assets for more than 50% of the Fortune 100. Their enterprise platform includes both security and risk management services to thwart all potential attack vectors, as well as audit and compliance services to ensure that data is handled according to local laws and regulations. Headquartered in Israel with U.S. headquarters in Newton, Massachusetts, CyberArk has numerous federal agencies as customers. They are listed on NASDAQ: CYBR, closed at $72.73 as of 9/19, and have a market capitalization of $2.64 billion. Investment Thesis Cyber ​​Ark is currently undervalued, so now is an ideal time to buy and hold until CYBR hits a target price of $82.84. The following three catalystswill increase the price of Cyber ​​Ark by 13.9% to $82.84 within the next three years. Consolidation of the enterprise cybersecurity market Product innovation due to increased government spending on cybersecurity Future government regulations on data use Consolidation of the enterprise cybersecurity market: The enterprise cybersecurity market is currently going through a period of consolidation . Large companies have acquired a number of smaller companies in an attempt to position themselves as comprehensive security services providers. Typically, a company will acquire a number of PAM (Privilege and Access Management), SIEM (Security and Information Event Management), CASB (Cloud Access SecurityBroker) and MFA (Multifactor Authentication) companies and proceed to combine them all under one platform to offer a smoother customer experience. Take for example Cisco, a giant in the CASB space. Last month, Cisco acquired Duo Security for $2.35 billion, a PAM and MFA company. In February this year, Cisco acquired Skyport Systems to strengthen CASB-SIEM interoperability. Last year, Cisco acquired AppDynamics for $3.7 billion to integrate its SIEM technology. This consolidation model has also been a recurring theme at other companies, such as Bomgar, Splunk, and KPMG. This market consolidation presents some unique opportunities for Cyber ​​Ark. They could be acquired or merge with another company. IBM, Microsoft, Amazon, and Lockheed Martin are all companies that could potentially be interested in Cyber ​​Ark if they want to expand their PAM offerings. In terms of timing, this type of company will most likely acquire Cyber ​​Ark within the next three years, before Cyber ​​Ark becomes too expensive. Even if Cyber ​​Ark is not acquired or merged with another company, this market consolidation has eliminated most competitors via acquisitions by large enterprises. Cyber ​​Ark can now carve out a niche market and be relatively insulated from the competition because these larger companies won't spend the time or resources needed to challenge Cyber ​​Ark's control of the market. Therefore, the consolidation of the enterprise cybersecurity market has the potential to benefit Cyber ​​Ark, especially within the next three years. Product innovation due to increased government spending on cybersecurity: Governments around the world account for a significant percentage of spending in the cybersecurity market. The US government alone accounted for 2% of the global cybersecurity market last year. In 2007 the US government spent $7.5 billion on cybersecurity, in 2016 that amount rose to $28 billion. In the future, government spending on cybersecurity will only increase as the technology becomes more ubiquitous and the number of actors with malicious intent increases. Cybersecurity requires constant attention, which means defense departments will continually pay billions to ensure their critical assets are protected. Many underdeveloped foreign nations still have much work to do to improve their cybersecurity postures, which will further increase spending on cybersecurity. Cyber ​​Ark is set to benefit from this increase in global government spending. Cyber ​​Ark currently counts numerous governments and government agencies as customers. These relationships will be incredibly valuable as governments increase spending in the cybersecurity market. Cyber ​​Ark currently offers access services to.