Industry Averages. Jimmie Gilbert has recently compared his company's financial ratios to a set of average ratios for his industry that he obtained from the National Association of Financial Ratio Analysts (NAFRA). He has lined up his data, two local competitors' data, and NAFRA data as follows:

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1. Comment on the relative strengths and weaknesses of Gilbert as compared to the two competitors and to the NAFRA data.
2. Using only this data, what might explain Gilbert's low return on sales?
3. Why might the three businesses in this local area have such a low return on sales when compared to the NAFRA data?

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Gilbert Competitor 1 Competitor 2 NAFRA Receivables turnover. 6.3 4.9 5.6 Inventory turnover 4.2 2.6 3.1 Asset turnover 2.2 1.3 1.5 Gross margin percentage 37.0 40.6 40.3 Return on sales. 0.3 7.2 4.9 5.8 3.1 1.6 39.6 9.2 Return on equity. 12.2 11.0 10.6 17.1 Current ratio. 1.6 2.9 2.1 53-9915 16629 1.9