Financial Analysis and Written Paper Project Requirements: 1. Obtain the most recent annual report for two companies in the retail grocery store industry -Kroger and Safeway. Kroger is your bases company. The reports should contain at least three years of income statement data and two years of balance sheet data.

2. Analyze at least 3 -5 (three - five) items on the income statement for your base company that would be important to an investor and discuss whether your company's performance related to these items appeared to be improving, deteriorating, or remaining stable. Justify and expand in writing on your answer. NOTE: See the supplement information to this document for additional guidelines on the suggested financial analysis requirements.

3. Analyze at least 4-6 (four- six) items on the balance sheet for your base company that would be important to an investor and discuss whether your company's performance related to these items appeared to be improving, deteriorating, or remaining stable. Justify and expand in writing on your answer.

4. Analyze your base company's 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.

5. Identify 2 (two) items not included in (or derived from) the financial statements that you think 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. (Hint: you might want to consider items discussed in other business classes.)

6. Compare Kroger, your base company's financial statements with those of the second company; Safeway. Both companies are in the retail grocery industry. Your purpose for undertaking the research and financial analysis is because you are an investor. You need to make a decision to invest in one of the two companies. Which company would you recommend? Explain Why? Note: You must recommend one of the two companies. Also note that your recommendation in this section of your paper must include a discussion of some financial issues you observed in your analysis process. However, your reasons for making the decision need not be limited to a discussion of just financial issues. Other non-financial factors like management, marketing strategies, technology advancements, sustainability, etc., can be included in your written justification for making your decision)