Case 6 - The Financial Detective Essay

3) Ameritrade has a short history of trading, so its equity beta cannot be computed precisely using its own historical data. Exhibit 4 provides some choices for comparable firms. Which of these firms do you think are appropriate to use as comparables to determine the beta of Ameritrade’s planned advertising and technology investments? Why?

* Stock Beta: Exhibit 5 shows a detailed measurement of the company’s stock returns in relation to the rest of the market through 5-year historical price and index data. The analysis includes monthly returns of both the NYSE and the S&P 500 index in order to capture a comprehensive view of the market return. In each comparison, the monthly returns of the Target stock and market are plotted on Y-axis and X-axis respectively to get the regression line’s slope or beta. The analysis arrives at an average beta of 0.988 which indicates a similar movement of Target stock’s returns in comparison to the whole market over time.

The analysis of a company's financial statements helps in the determination of both the weaknesses and strengths of the concerned entity. Further, such an analysis helps in the determination of the future viability of firms. There are a wide range of techniques utilized in the analysis of financial statements. In that regard, it is important to note that the relevance of a horizontal, vertical as well as ratio analysis of a company's financial statements cannot be overstated. This is more so the case when it comes to the interpretation of the various dollar amounts presented in both the balance sheet and the income statement. In this text, I carry out a horizontal, vertical as well as ratio analysis of both The Coca-Cola Company and PepsiCo, Inc. The analysis' results will be critical in the evaluation of each company's performance. Findings will be used as a basis for recommendations on how each company can improve its financial status.

1. Please conduct a financial ratio analysis using the data in Exhibit 2. How do the results reflect different strategies pursued by the 4 firms?

4. May Department Stores is a merchandising company and I would link it with balance sheet number four. First clue are the inventories, 23, 2 % of total assets, usual for this type of company. As stated above, the offer their own credit cards, which can be explained the level of account receivables, 25, 7 % of total assets. Compared to the other five companies, May Departments Stores have an amount of PPE (20 % of total assets) that suits best for this type of company. The current liabilities are relatively high, 38, 3 % of total liabilities and shareholders’ equity, usual for merchandising company and a low level of long term debt, 9, 3 %.

Ratios of ten companies are presented in this study. The companies are all headquartered in the United States and the financial statements are the most recent annual financials for the respective fiscal years ending in 1999 or 2000.

In this case, a summary sheet which contains 14 sets of financial data from 14 different industries is provided. The task is to match 14 different firms with 14 industries by distinguishing the differences (e.g. sources of financing, profitability, the inventory turnover and the accounts receivable collection period) in the financial structures.

With this company the inventory management ratios further indicate that there may be an issue with inventory and inventory controls. The inventory turnover ratio is lower than the industry average and the days’ sales in inventory are high. A company wants to turn inventory quickly to reduce storage costs, and

A common practice to determine the firm’s beta is to draw from historical data from published sources or compare numbers to competitors. In this case, Heinz can compare to Kraft, Campbell Soup and Del Monte and use professional judgement in determining the stock’s sensitivity to the market. A stock’s beta can be determined using a formula as well.

We believe that Company I represents the Smaller Producer of printing papers and Company J represents the World’s Largest Market of Paper.

By using the company return and the Value Weighted Returns of the Market, we derived the companies’ levered equity betas and then unlevered them.

All managers need to understand where value comes from in their firm. The purpose of this analysis is to identify the financial strategy and performance of this particular publicly traded company. The process of understanding the risk and profitability of a company by analyzing reported financial info, especially annual and quarterly reports are vital to identifying the company’s overall financial performance. I wanted to analyze Coca Cola because the company has so much history and is one of the most recognizable brands in the world. I have always enjoyed researching food and beverage companies

In order to find out the exact firm by analysing the financial structure of typical firms, first we need to separate those firms which have zero inventory turnover (A, B, F and H) from those firms which have zero debt ratio which in our case are (E, H and J) and we use the information to narrow down the possibilities of each firm. In this case there are three groups of companies:

For the analysis we have used the historical financial data of the company, the history of the company and its financing policy, and the financial data of its competitors.

Based on the financial ratios given, this section will compare and contrast the financial strengths of Company X and Company Y in order to suggest Tringale Ltd to take decision regarding which of the above companies to chose for investment. This section provides comments on financial performance areas based on the data given, and presents report to the Board of Directors of Tringale Ltd by recommending which of the two investment opportunities is better.