Paper Task:

The shareholders of the company I have selected have some concerns about company performance. You are hired as an independent financial consultant to analyse the profitability for the company. You are to use ratio analysis in your report.

Required:

1) Deconstruct the company's profitability in the most recent year through calculating the following:

a. gross profit margin

b. operating profit margin

c. net profit margin

d. return on equity (ROE)

e. return on assets (ROA)

Comment on each ratio and discuss its role in informing us of the profitability of the company.

2) Conduct the same analysis on the company's profitability ratios for the two preceding financial years (e.g if you analysed gross profit margin for the year 2015 in part (1) analyse gross profit margin for the years 2014 and 2013 in this part).

3) Discuss the trend found from your analysis in parts (1) and (2). What conclusions can you draw about the profitability of the company over time?

4) Perform an analysis similar to that performed in part (1) for two competitive companies.

5) compare your results in part (1) with those in part (4). What conclusion can you draw about the position of my company compared to its competitors?

6) Discuss the effectiveness of ratio analysis in general. What other information would you provide to the company's shareholders in aiding them to assess the profitability of the company?

My company: Unitedhealth Group Competitors: Cardinal Health McKesson

P.S: Do ensure you reference your source materials appropriately in Harvard style. Please cite minimum of 4 references. If you cite works in the report they must be included in a reference section. If you use works but do not cite them you can include them in a bibliography.

I need the report of 8 pages i.e. 2200 words that does not include cover page, references and appendix. .

Not meeting the requirement can lead to rejection of the answer