In this project, you will complete a financial statement analysis of two companies. These companies are: Walmart (Ticker: WMT) Target (Ticker: TGT)

Learn to access company data from www.sec.gov and from the company website. You will obtain the 10-Ks for both companies for the latest year, the year ended January 2021 (The latest 10-K will be dated sometime in February or March 2021). You will use this data to calculate ratios for these companies, for two years. Each 10-K contains data for the current year and previous years, so the latest 10-K should be enough. Else, get the 10-K for earlier year as well, if needed. Based on the calculation of ratios (2 years x two companies) you will answer questions in (3), (4), and 5 below.

Provide ratios listed below for the two companies, for both years, in a table (2 x 2 = four columns of ratios. the first two columns should be for Walmart (year 2, year 1) and the next two columns should be for Target (year 2, year 1).

a. Current ratio

b. Accounts receivable turnover ratio

c. Inventory turnover ratio

d. Debt-to-equity ratio

e. Gross profit ratio

f. Profit margin ratio

g. Return on assets ratio

h. Return on sales ratio

i. Asset turnover ratio

j. Dividend payout ratio

4. Comparing each company's performance this year (year 2) relative to the previous year (year 1), answer the following questions. Support your conclusions with the mention of appropriate ratios.

a. Has the company's liquidity improved or deteriorated?

b. Is the company collecting cash from its credit customers at a faster pace or slower pace?

c. Is the company selling its inventory at a faster pace or slower pace?

d. Is the profitability of the company better or worse this year?

5. Comparing the two companies with each other for the latest year only

a. Which company collects faster from its credit customers.

b. Which company is selling its inventory at a faster pace?

c. Which company has a better return on assets?

d. Which company provides better investment returns for its owners?

If the denominator of a ratio is a negative number, then the calculation of that ratio is not meaningful. In such cases, you should simply write in the table: Negative Denominator. This applies only to the denominator. If the numerator is negative, but the denominator is positive, then you should report that ratio (obviously, it will be a negative number).