A well formulated financial ratio analysis report helps investors to quantify a company’s financial strengths and weaknesses and potential risks and opportunities and identify the company’s financial position. Using financial ratio analysis as a tool in conjunction with other business evaluation processes, and other company factors, is beneficial for the investors (Brealey, Meyers & Marcus, 2009). The following report will provide the investor with a clear picture of the company’s current status as well as future projection in order to demonstrate investment opportunities. Specifically, this report examined xxx Company's financial ratios and other factors using a trend table over the past five years. Return on assets (ROA) measures …show more content…
For example, a ratio under 1 indicates that the company is not in good financial health and would be unable to pay debts. Too high of a number, like a 3 or 4, means that there is too much cash on hand that is not being reinvested (Brealey et al., 2009). In 2009, Ford has a current ratio of 0.8, which means that there was negative working capital. However, compared to the industry norm, Ford fell slightly below industry average, issuing some concern. The working capital ratio indicates whether a company has enough short-term assets to cover its short-term debts. This ratio reveals the financial condition of a business more so than other calculations because it results in information that may project financial difficulties. In Ford's case, turnover was not quick enough not to keep working capital reserves in the event of financial hardship (Brealey et al., 2009).. The debt/equity ratio depends on the industry in which the company operates. Capital-intensive industries such as auto manufacturing tend to have a debt/equity ratio above 2, other industries such as personal computer companies have a debt/equity ratio of under 0.5. However, any company over 40% of its debt to equity ratio warrants observation because the debt to equity ratio measures the amount a company is able to borrow over long periods. Ford’s debt/equity ratio was approximately 6.5% in 2009, which as good in comparison to the previous four years. Long-term
Financial ratio analysis is a valuable tool that allows one to assess the success, potential failure or future prospects of the company (Bazley 2012). The ratios are helpful in spotting useful trends that can indicate the warning signs of
The current ratio directly relates the company’s current assets against its current liabilities. A good current ratio will be over 1. For example if the current ratio were 2.0 this would mean that the company’s current assets are twice as large as its current liabilities. For Tesla Motors the current ratio drops significantly over the years. It starts at 2.76 in 2010, then drops to 1.95 in 2011, and finally reaches 0.97 in 2012. As you can see the current ratio in 2012 is below one. The current ratio of 0.97 means that as of December 2012, Tesla Motors has more current liabilities than current assets.
Working capital is the money that a company has after paying off its current liabilities and with which it can finance its operating and working capital requirements. The higher a number the better a company is able to pay off its debt and have cash for meeting its financial obligations. The current ratio is used to gauge a company 's ability to pay back its short-term liabilities (debt and payables) with its short-term assets (cash, inventory, receivables). The higher the current ratio, the more capable the company is of paying its obligations. A ratio under 1 suggests that the company would be unable to pay off its obligations if they came due at that point. The current ratio denotes the efficiency of a company 's operating cycle or its ability to turn its products into cash, which is a key requirement for business success. Quick ratio is an indicator of a company 's short-term liquidity. The quick ratio measures a company 's ability to meet its short-term obligations with its most liquid assets, essentially cash and cash equivalents. The higher the quick ratio, the better the financial position of the company in terms of its ability to meet its liabilities.
Current ratio shows how well the company can pay off its short-term liability obligations. Short-term liabilities are debt due within the next year. Companies that have larger amounts of current assets are better able to pay off their current liabilities. The higher the ratio, the better able the company is to pay current obligations. A low ratio indicates the company is weighted down with current debt and the cash flow will suffer. The equation for current ratio
The paper illustrates that financial ratio analysis is an important tool for firm’s to evaluate their financial health in order to identify areas of weakness so as to institute corrective measures.
This ratio is similar to current ratio, except that it excludes inventory from current assets. Inventory is subtracted because it is considered to be less liquid than other current assets, that is, it cannot be easily used to pay for the company’s current liabilities. A company having a quick ratio of at least 1.0, is considered to be financially stable. It has sufficient liquid assets and hence, it will be able to pay back its debts easily (Qasim Saleem et al., 2011).
Return on Total Assets was 4.43% which is below five percent. That indicates that the company is not accurately converting its assets into profit. The total for Return on Stockholders’ Equity was 8.89%, however financial analysts prefer ROE to range between 15-20 %. The company’s low ROE indicates that the company is not generating profit with new investments. Lastly, Debt-to-Equity ratio for the company was 1.01 which indicates that investors and creditors are equally sharing assets. In the view of creditors, they see a high ratio as a risk factor because it can indicate that investors are not investing due to the company’s overall performance. The totals of these three ratios demonstrate that the company’s financial state is not as healthy as it should be.
Financial ratios are great indicators to find a firm’s performance and financial situation. Most of the ratios are able to be calculated through the use of financial statements provided by the firm itself. They show the relationship between two or more financial variables that can be used to analyze trends and to compare the firm’s financials with other companies to further come up with market values or discount rates, etc.
Long-term solvency for Ford Motor Company also appears to be strong. The company’s times interest earned ratio of 1.96 means that it can cover its interest charges on current debt issues almost two times over. This is a good sign that bankruptcy is not eminent and the company is solvent in the long-run. A higher debt to equity ratio means a company gets a larger portion of its financing from creditors than shareholders, though higher is a subjective measure and depends on the industry. (Wahlen et al, 2008) Automotive manufacturers tend to have debt to equity ratios above 2 because the industry is capital intensive. (Debt/equity ratio, 2014) Ford’s debt to equity ratio in 2011 was 10.89, far higher than the industry standard, potentially due to the circumstances of the time. The financial crisis of 2008 resulted in major financial bailouts across the automotive industry. These large levels of debt to the government would increase the debt to equity ratios of all companies that accepted the money.
Before beginning an analysis of a company it is necessary to have a complete set of financial statements, preferably for the pas few years so that historical trends can be obtained. Ratios are a way for anyone to get an idea of the financial performance of a company by using the information contained in the financial statements. Ratios are grouped into four basic categories, liquidity, activity, profitability, and financial leverage. This document will use a variety of these ratios to analyze the firm, Sample Company, as of December 31,2000.
If this ratio is high means company owns too many debts which may decrease their
The calculation of ratios is the calculation technique for analyzing a company’s financial performance that divides or standardize one accounting measure by another economically relevant measure. Financial ratios can be used as a tool to demonstrate financial statement users for making valid comparisons of firm operating performance, over time for the same firm and between comparable companies. External investors are mostly interested in gaining insights about a firm’s profitability, asset management, liquidity, and solvency.
Financial results and conditions vary among companies for a number of reasons. One reason for the variation can be traced to the characteristics of the industries in which companies operate. For example, some industries require large investments in property, plant, and equipment (PP&E), while others require very little. In some industries, the competitive productpricing structure permits companies to earn significant profits per sales dollar, while in other industries the product-pricing structure imposes a much lower profit margin. In most low-margin industries, however, companies often experience a relatively high rate of product throughput. A second reason for some of the
CURRENT RATIO show a company’s ability to pay its current obligations that is company’s liquidity. The current ratio position is lower for Honda at 0.33 than for Toyota at 1.22 in 2010. Honda has a large portion of receivables in assets both in trade, notes receivables and finance receivables. It has a huge portion of cash as well. This indicates the company has no problem in terms of generating a positive influx of assets. But in terms of liabilities it has a large portion of short term debt which makes almost 1/3rd of total Current liabilities. Also there is a significant portion of Long Term debt. The higher level of liabilities in the denominator reduces the overall ratio.
Current ratio of Company X and Y is 1.80, and 2.55 respectively. This ratio presents the proportion of current assets to current liabilities. This ratio provided a measure of degree to which current assets cover current liabilities. Since both companies have excess of current assets over their current liabilities, they met basic requirement of safety margin against uncertainty in realization of current assets and funds flows. Generally, it is suggested that a firm should have neither a very high ratio nor a very low ratio. Very high ratio implies heavy investments in current assets reflecting under utilization of the resources. A very low ratio endangers the business in to risks of not being able to pay short term requirements. Normally, it is advocated to have the current ratio as 2:1 (Baker and Powell, 2009).