Industry #5

Disney vs

Universal

universal studios

Part 1:

Each individual person within the group will pick one of the companies within the industry that the group selected and complete the following for that company. The company I selected is Universal Studios.

Obtain the companys (Universal studios) annual report (There is a document within Blackboard to help facilitate which year you should use for the selected company and how to obtain its annual report). Describe the principal product or service that each company provides, its main geographic area of activity, and the ending date of its last fiscal year. (You may get information about these companies only from the internet or a computer database through the library)

Obtain Universal's stock price and record it each day for one week. On what stock exchange are the stocks traded? What are their ticker symbols?

Prepare a horizontal analysis of universal studios using its balance sheets for the last two years. Prepare a vertical analysis (common-sized) of universal using its income statements.

Complete the following ratios for universal studios using the numbers within the annual report (financial statements):

Working capital

Current ratio

Receivable turnover

Average days sales uncollected (also called Days Sales in Receivables)

Inventory turnover

Average days inventory on hand (also called Days Sales in Inventory)

Profit margin

Asset turnover

Return on Assets (Net Income / Average Total Assets)

Return on Equity (Net Income / Average Total Equity)

Debt to Equity

Price/earnings per share (Use the market price that correlates to the date of the EPS ratio on the Income Statement. If you need help finding this date, please reach out to me.)

Examine the Statement of Cash Flows for the company:

Are cash flows from operations more or less than income for the past two years?

Is the company expanding through investing activities?

What is universals most important sources of financing?

Overall, has cash increased or decreased over the past two years?

Part 2:

Find at least two articles that discuss the current situation in this industry or that present information about your companies. Summarize the main points of these articles. Describe the industry and its outlook and summarize the companys future plans based on your research and on reading the companies annual reports. (Make sure to include links to the articles within your Work Cited page)

Compare Disney and universal studios based on the horizontal analysis and the vertical analysis completed in Part 1.

Compare the Disney and universal based on the ratios completed in Part 1.4.

Prepare three paragraphs giving your conclusions about these two companies from the following viewpoints:

From the investors point of view

From the creditors point of view

From the managers point of view.