Costco - Sustainable Growth Model, 1997-2001

A calculation is used to assess Target and Walmart efficiency that allocating the capital under its control to profitable investments. The return on invested capital gives a sense of how well a company is using their money to generate returns. However, Target sales increased to 4% in 2015 to 2016 but then declined significantly in 2016 to 2017. Target earnings from continuing operations before interest expense and income taxes increased by 5% in 2015 to 2016 but then slightly declined to 1.5% in 2016 to 2017 not reaching the 2015 level. Therefore, Target earnings from continuing operations before income taxes increased to 3.5% in 2015 to 2016 but then slightly declined to

Financial ratios are important in assessing the two companies’ performances. Referring to Exhibit A and B, we see that Sears relied heavily on debt financing. Although its 1997 ROE was high, it had a 300 days cash conversion cycle and a slow A/R turnover ratio. After evaluating various ratios, we concluded that the driving force behind Sears’ profitability was its proprietary card business. For a retailer, a strategy of using flexible payment options to boost sales is not a viable long term solution. The slow A/R turnover and negative operating cash flow cause concerns. On the other hand, Wal-Mart had a quick cash conversion cycle of 91 days, and a working capital turnover of 24/yr (vs.10/yr for Sears). These ratios represent a retail company with sound fundamental strategies, as well as the implementation and execution of those strategies. The financial ratios gave us insights into the companies’ operating and financing strategies, putting the two companies’ annual results into

Today I will be trying to convince you to invest in the Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. What makes this stock great you may ask is that it has more than 5,000 stores and clubs nationwide. The stock cost $71.67 per share and the stock has gone up $1.59. Walmart first opened common stock to the public in 1970 and began trading on NYSE on August 25,1972. Walmart has emphasized the importance of keeping its merchandise in stock for shoppers. The company’s stock have risen about 15% this year. Wal-Mart is the world's largest retailer. The employees are more evident as Wal-Mart becomes a more pleasant place to shop. Walmart has said it will invest billions in lowering

Costco’s common stock is traded on the NASDAQ global market under the symbol “COST.” Preferred stock: $.005 par value; 100,000,000 shares authorized; no shares issued and outstanding. Common stock: $.005 par value; 900,000,000 shares authorized; 437,952,000 and 437,683,000 shares issued and outstanding. Costco stockholders’ equity, according to the balance sheet, is $10,617,000,000 for the August 31, 2014 – August 30, 2015, fiscal year.

In 2011, Walmart's inventory turnover was 11.62 and the industry average was 10.4(stock-analysis). It's fixed asset turnover was 3.88 and the industry average was 3.56, and it's total asset turnover was 2.34 and the industry average was 1.56(Stock-analysis). The values calculated for all three ratios mentioned all resulted in substantially different values in a positive way (Appendix B). Historically the values of each ratio have maintained relatively constant, which in this case is not a weakness. Asset management is a strength for Walmart, which ultimately means that they are maintaining their assets in the correct manner in order to have an efficient way of business.

The purpose of this report is to evaluate the stock price of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (which ticker symbol in NYSE is WMT) by fundamental analysis. According to this analysis, I recommend that Wal-Mart is worth to invest in the long term because of the potential growth of market shares and revenue. Besides, based on P/E method and Gordon model, WMT price is undervalued; therefore, if investors buy the stock, they will get benefit not only in capital gain but also in dividend cash inflow.

The 6% Return on Assets percentage shows that Costco’s assets are being well-used to generating revenue. The ROE demonstrates $0.13 of profit for every dollar of net assets.

The purpose of this paper is to advise analyze the financial statements of Dillard’s, Inc. in order to recommend whether or not my client should invest $1 million in the large retail company. I will compare the financial statements of Dillard’s, Inc. its competitor, Kohl’s Corporation. Investing in retail can be risky because a retail company’s performance is very heavily influenced by factors that have nothing to do with the actual company such as the overall performance of the economy or the weather during the holiday shopping season. There is, however, potential for profitability within the retail sector. Based on my analysis, I recommend that the client should not invest in Dillard’s, Inc. for the following reasons. First, Dillard’s has experience a decline in net income in the last three years. Second, liquidity ratios indicate that they could face possible liquidity constraints in the future. Third, long-term debt paying ability ratios indicate that the company could have trouble paying off the principal of its current debt obligations. Fourth, the profitability ratios are well below industry averages, suggesting that there are more profitable companies to invest in within the industry. And finally, Investor analysis ratios provide mixed opinion of the future performance of the company. I conclude that retail can be a profitable industry to invest in if an investor has the risk tolerance and risk capacity to withstand the uncertainty, but neither Dillard’s

The mixture of debt-equity mix is important so as to maximize the stock price of the Costco. However, it will be significant to consider the Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC) as well so that it can evaluate the company targeted capital structure. Cost of capital (OC) may be used by the companies as for long term decision making, so industries that faced to take the important of Cost of capital seriously may not make the right choice by choosing the right project(Gitman’s, ).

Managing debt levels to maintain an investment grade credit rating as well as operate with an efficient capital structure for its growth plans and industry

In utilizing the fundamental data provided by the 2010 Richard Ivey School of Business Foundation article titled Valuing Wal-Mart - 2010, I have made the following conclusions regarding the value of Wal-Mart (WMT) stock as of February 2012.

Costco’s business model is to generate high-volume sales and rapid inventory turnover by offering low prices on a limited set selection of brands and a few selected privately labeled products. This model does not turn a profit on its own with the company operating slightly below its break-even cost. However, to make up for this Costco charges a membership fee and this is a simple way of padding their profit but also enabling them to provide a customer experience that emphasizes value.

Torres’ common-size financial statements also show the changing composition of Costco’s financing structure over time. The fact that interest expense consistently fell over the five year span from -0.35% of net sales in 1997 to -0.09% in 2001 demonstrates Costco’s ability to reduce its overall amount of debt during these years. Exhibit nine’s balance sheet portion supports this reduction, documenting an increase in total current liabilities from 35.86% of total assets in 1997 to 40.76% in 2001 and an increase in accounts payable from 25.46% of assets in 1997 to 27.03% in 2001. This signifies that the company’s debts or obligations due within one year increased, further corresponding with the fact that short-term borrowing increased from 0.46% of assets in 1997 to 1.93% in 2001. With an increase in short-term borrowing it is logical to expect to see a decrease in long-term borrowing. The income statement proves that this is indeed the case, documenting a decrease in long-term debt from 16.74% of sales in 1997 to 8.52% in 2001. This relates back to the decrease in Costco’s interest expense on the income statement, representing the company’s decision to switch to short-term and away from long-term methods. Furthermore, the decrease in long-term debt helped account for a decrease in total liabilities from

After examining key financial data, it can be concluded that Sears’ sales ratio is expected to decrease by 2.61%, its cost of revenue will increase by

From a strategic perspective Costco is performing extremely well. They are making record high profits as stated in 2012. They are also acquiring new customers continuously from households and new businesses. Their strategy is to sell you products in bulk quantity and wholesale. Another part of it consists of purchasing a limited selection of quality merchandise with efficient distribution and a wide range of product categories and rapid inventory turnover.