Company Analysis Paper - Kohls and Target

http://corporate.kohls.com/investors/financial-information

https://investors.target.com/annual-reports

• Obtain the most recent annual report for two companies who are competitors in the same industry. The reports should contain at least three years of income statement data and two years of balance sheet data.
• Analyze at least 3 (three) items on the income statement for your base company that would be important to an investor, and discuss whether your companys performance related to these items appeared to be improving, deteriorating, or remaining stable. Justify your answer.
• Analyze at least 3 (three) items on the balance sheet for your base company that would be important to an investor, and discuss whether your companys performance related to these items appeared to be improving, deteriorating, or remaining stable. Justify your answer.
• Analyze your base companys investing and financing activities for the most recent year as identified in the statement of cash flows, specifically identifying the two largest investing activities and the two largest financing activities. Discuss whether you agree or disagree with the investing and financing strategies that your company appears to be employing.
• Identify 2 (two) items not included in (or derived from) the financial statements that youthink would be important to someone considering whether to invest in your company.Discuss your reasons for believing that these two items about the company would be important in making an investment decision.
• Compare your base companys financial statements with those of the second company in your chosen industry. If you were making a decision to invest in one of the two companies, which company would you choose? Why? (Note: your answer in this section must include some financial issues, but your answer need not be limited to a discussion of financial issues.)

The paper should be completed in Microsoft Word and should adhere to the following requirements:

• Introduction of company
• History / background of the companies and the industry
• Analysis of key items
• Ratio analysis of the companies
• Analysis from the industry standpoint (ratio analysis of key indicators)
• Any issues you may want to address from your reading that could influence the investors decisions (i.e. pending lawsuits, corporate takeovers)
• Recommendations for the investors (pros and cons)

Conclusions Note:

• You must submit the entire annual report for each company being discussed.
• Your analysis must include page references to relevant portions of the annual reports, and the relevant portions of the annual reports must be highlighted. Your report must also contain appropriate quotation marks for quoted material and appropriate citations for material taken from sources outside the financial statements.
• Your analysis is limited to 12 (twelve) pages (minimum of six pages), and must be typed, double-spaced, and have at least a 10-point font.