Sales Growth and an Assessment of Cash Flow

First, the projected cash flows range from $21.2 million in 2007 to $29.5 million in 2011 as shown in the data exhibit ‘DCF model.’ To generate these numbers Liedtke’s base case performance projections are used for the projected 2007 – 2011 net revenue numbers and the estimated depreciation and then his projections for Balance sheet accounts were used to determine the current net working capital and capital expenditure as in the exhibit ‘Financial statements.’ These projections were based by Liedtke under the following assumptions, women’s casual footwear would be wound down within one year and the historical corporate overhead-revenue ratio would conform to historical averages. These annual cash flows give us a PV (Cash flows) of $96.15 million over the next 5 years.

Free Cash Flow = Sales Revenues – Operating Costs and Taxes – Required Investments in Operating Capital. Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC) is affected by market interest rates, market risk aversion, cost of debt, cost of equity, firm’s debt/equity mix, and firm’s business risk. Therefore, free cash flows and the weighted average cost of capital interact to determine a firm’s value by the following equation:

A correct response requires that you find an appropriate industry beta and measure for levered/unlevered betas and requires that you define cost of equity capital and free cash flow (FCF) – you may need a formula for FCF.

The cost of equity was found using CAPM, with the given market risk premium of 5%, a beta of .88, and risk-free rate of 4.03%. The beta was found by running a regression of Southwest’s percent change in stock price versus the S&P 500’s percent change in stock price for two years (June 28, 2000 to June 28, 2002). The risk-free rate was the return on a ten-year treasury note issued on June 28, 2002, according to the U.S. Treasury’s website. The tax rate of 39% was used to account for tax savings from leverage. In order to calculate the firm’s leverage, the market value of equity was found from the price per share on July 24, 2002 (Yahoo Finance) and the shares outstanding on the balance sheet of the July 10-Q report, as shown in Exhibit X. The debt value was approximated at the book value since data could not be found regarding its market value. This analysis resulted in a debt weight of 11.74% and equity weight of 88.26%. The final approximation for the weighted average cost of capital was 8.64%.

Cash on hand and Assets are important to account for when expanding into a new product line. When an accurate balance sheet is presented and all proper accounting is done, the company is able to leverage their financial strengths and not expose weaknesses when expanding into a new product line. The reasoning for such a strong focus on the balance sheet is to ensure that the capability to expand is present financially. Companies that have cash on hand and assets are displaying a positive indicator because it shows the ability to act and invest on demand. According to (Martin, 2002) “Cash is king regarding solvency, but customers shouldn't overlook a company's cash-burn rate” what this means is that even though there is cash on hand the ability to go through it is present especially when launching a new product lines in which case the ability to replenish cash reserves must present in the form of revenues.

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.

Based upon the firm’s low target leverage of 5%, low degree of operating leverage, and favorable credit history and financial outlook, the model assumes a cost of debt in line with AAA corporate debt at 7.02%. This estimate seems reasonable and sensitivity analysis shows a 1% decrease in the forecasted share price requires at least a 2.4% increase in the cost of debt.

Moving onto the balance sheet, it is safe to assume that the cash position in the firm will increase the rate of the sales growth going forward. In actuality, cash has historically increased faster than the growth of revenue with 2004 being an exception. To calculate the assumption for accounts receivable, inventory, and accounts payable, we averaged the four years worth of data

The company’s debt ratios are 54.5% in 1988, 58.69% in 1989, 62.7% in 1990, and 67.37% in 1991. What this means is that the company is increasing its financial risk by taking on more leverage. The company has been taking an extensive amount of purchasing over the past couple of years, which could be the reason as to why net income has not grown much beyond several thousands of dollars. One could argue that the company is trying to expand its inventory to help accumulate future sales. But another problem is that the company’s

Also, according to its leverage ratios, the company’s debts are not only very high, but are also increasing. Its decreasing TIE ratio indicates that its capability to pay interests is decreasing. The company’s efficiency ratios indicate that despite the fact that its fixed assets are increasingly being utilized to generate sales during the years 1990-1991 as indicated by its increasing fixed asset turnover ratio, the decreasing total assets turnover indicate that overall the company’s total assets are not efficiently being put to use. Thus, as a whole its asset management is becoming less efficient. Last but not the least, based on its profitability ratios, the company’s ability to make profit is decreasing.

We assume linear increase in the EBIT and EBITDA at 3% for 1999 from 1998 figures. Considering the debt will be long-term, we test both 10- and 20-year corporate yields as interest rates to see what would be the coverage ratios, using the 1999 projected figures.

Our analysis attempts to answer the question, “What are the things a company must consider when analyzing a new investment or project?” According to the text, a firm’s first objective when deciding to take on new debt should be that its return on net assets (RONA) should be greater than its weighted average cost of capital (WACC). Since we are working with an income statement only and do not have an amount for net assets, we will instead use return on invested capital (ROIC), which measures how well a company is using its money to generate returns. Comparing a company 's return on capital (ROIC) with its cost of capital (WACC) reveals whether invested capital was used effectively. From our spreadsheet calculations we see that using our estimated operating profit provides us with a 19.9% return on invested capital with only a 7.2% weighted average cost for that same capital. If these numbers are even close to correct, George should definitely make the move.

We valued the company using four different methods; Net Present Value, Internal Rate of Return, Modified Internal Rate of Return and Profitability Index. We began with the Net Present Value, or NPV, calculation. NPV values an investment’s profitability based on the projected future cash inflows and outflows of the investment, discounted back to present value using the WACC. The calculations for NPV are presented in Appendix 2. We started by separating cash inflows and outflows by each year. We used Bob Prescott’s estimates for the revenue per year and related operating costs of cost of goods sold as

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.

Hypothesis of The Study: 1) Leverage ratio is positively related influenced by growth. 2) Leverage ratio is positively related influenced by asset structure. 3) Leverage ratio is negatively related influenced by profitability. 4) Leverage ratio is positively related influenced by debt service ratio.