Predicting Future Sales: A Quantitative Sales Forecasting Case

This case uses panel data and a simple regression model to forecast future sales. Students are given a chosen company and required to: access, download, and manipulate data; use statistical software commands to generate a sales forecast for the coming year; and to interpret the reasonableness of the model’s output. The objectives for completing this case are that students will [1] extract archival panel data from a database (such as Compustat); [2] become more proficient at programming statistical software (such as Stata); [3] manipulate, clean, and transform data to successfully complete the case; [4] deepen their knowledge of predictive regression models; [5] critically assess the reasonableness of the model’s output; and [6] effectively communicate their assessments. The case may be assigned in any course containing financial statement analysis concepts, and it can be used at either the graduate or undergraduate level.