Objective: Analyze financial statement data using ratio analysis; Develop common-size financial statements; Explain trend, vertical, and horizontal analysis.

Analyzing financial statement data is a full-time job for investment firms and brokerages. Still, there is no way to know what the future may or may not hold for any business. The stock market has more than proved that. Analysts seek to understand the results of a business and what it may mean for its future investable status.

Navigate to Yahoo Finance in your web browser https://finance.yahoo.com/.

• Select a company, preferably a large well-known company, to evaluate as an investment.
• You should be able to find most of the ratios used for analysis in the Statistics heading.

Read over some of the most recent articles about the company you selected (found under Summary or Chart headings).

• Discuss the analysis these articles give. Do you agree with their analysis? What data made you agree or disagree?