Find information on your company, and its competitor, at www$.$msn$.$com$/$money$,$ following these steps:

$1$ My company is Amazon and its competitor walmart

$2$The latest stock quote along with the graph presenting

the stock price movement for your company will appear on your screen. In between the

quote and graph is a menu bar with the SUMMARY item highlighted. Select the menu

item ANALYSIS.

$3.$ Right below this menu bar is another menu bar, click on Key Ratios if not already

highlighted. After clicking on Key Ratios, just below it there are several more options to

click on including Per Share Values, Growth Rates, Profitability, Valuation, Leverage &

Liquidity and Efficiency. Under each of these options there are several ratios you will be

looking at$.$ For example, under the Efficiency option you will find the asset turnover and

inventory turnover ratios for your specific company.

$4.$ By clicking on a specific ratio, for example Asset Turnover which is located under the

Efficiency tab, a graph will appear and you will be able to compare your company$$s ratio

to the industry ratio. For example, Amazon is in the diversified retailer industry, and

they have a lower asset turnover ratio compared to the industry average.

$5.$ To select a competitor for your company in the same industry, under each ratio graph

there is Compare button along with some competitors listed to the right of the button.

See screenshot below if needed. By clicking on one of the competitors, another graph

will appear where you could compare your company$$s ratio to the competitors. For

example, using Amazon as your company, click on the Efficiency tab, you can then click

on Asset Turnover ratio, under the asset turnover chart click on one of the competitors

$($TGT or BBY for Amazon$)$ than you will be able to compare ratios. All competitors should

be in the same industry as your company.Please enter on your spreadsheet, the following information for your company, and the competitor

selected, for the most recent $2$ years.

A$.$ Using the Financials option on the menu, and then the Income Statement and Balance Sheet

options which then appear below the top menu:

a$.$ Total Current Assets

b$.$ Total Fixed Assets

c$.$ Intangibles

d$.$ Total Current Liabilities

e$.$ Long Term Debt

f$.$ Total Shareholder$$s Equity

g$.$ Revenues

h$.$ Cost of Goods Sold

i$.$ Gross Profit $($also referred to as Gross Margin$)$

j$.$ Operating Expenses

k$.$ Net Income $($also referred to as Net Profit$)$

B$.$ As mentioned above $($or by calculating from the financial statements for your companies$),$ enter

the following financial ratios, for your company and its competitor for the past $2$ years.

a$.$ Current Ratio

b$.$ Leverage Ratio $($financial leverage$)$

c$.$ Gross Profit $($Gross Margin on the site$)$

d$.$ Return on Equity

e$.$ Return on Assets

f$.$ Return on Sales $($Operating Margin$)$

g$.$ Asset Turnover

h$.$ Inventory Turnover

C$.$ Analyze the profitability of your two companies:

a$.$ Which company showed the greatest improvement $($or least decrease$)$ in profitability as

measured by ROA?b$.$ Which company showed the greatest improvement $($or least decrease$)$ in profitability as

measured by ROE?

c$.$ Are your answers for $($a$)$ and $($b$)$ different?

d$.$ If yes, why?

D$.$ Analyze the productivity of your two companies:

a$.$ Which company showed the greatest improvement $($or least decrease$)$ in productivity as

measured by Asset Turnover?

b$.$ Based on the available information what would you say was the biggest cause of this increase

$($or lesser amount of decrease$)$ in productivity?

E$.$ Estimate Cost Structure of the $2$ companies. Use the ratio of current assets to total assets as an

estimate of the cost structure.

i$.$ Which company has a higher fixed cost structure?

j$.$ In this exercise, do you think that the current ratio is a reasonable representation of the

relative cost structure of your two companies? Hint: This would depend on the nature

of the non$-$current assets of your companies.

k$.$ Is the year$-$to$-$year change over the past $2$ years, in the same direction for the $2$

companies?

l$.$ Given the relative cost structures of the two companies, and the change in sales for the $2$

companies, what would you have expected for the change in Gross Profit? An increase? Decrease?

Why?