The contents of the paper should be arranged as follows:

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. (This is not an introduction. It summarizes the entire work product. Although it is positioned first in the paper, this should be the last thing you write.)

2. OBJECTIVE Objectives of the report (appropriate to the scenario that you are briefing a potential investor in this company).

3. INFORMATION ABOUT THE COMPANY Please provide general information about the company, including name, address, key personnel, key shareholders, and lines of work. Please briefly talk about the companys history and how it evolved to the entity today.

4. ECONOMIC CONDITIONS An assessment of the economy in general and the areas of the economy affecting the company in specific.

5. PLANS FOR THE FUTURE An appropriate analysis of the companys plans for the future (as represented by the company in the Management Discussion and Analysis section of its annual report, 10-K).

6. SIGNIFICANT EVENTS, found in financial news sources and other news sources, affecting the company in the recent past and currently.

7. STOCK PRICE CHARTS. Please include charts for the recent changes in the market price of the company. Please also include the charts for the competitor and the market overall, such as S&P 500. Please report them together.

8. FINANCIAL STATEMENT ANALYSIS This part is the extended version of Group Project Part 1 Excel. If you have any corrections, please complete them before you start this part. In this part, in addition to presenting your results, you have to analyze the numbers. An appropriate analysis of the companys financial position and a comparison of this analysis with industry norms and the competitor. A thorough and complete ratio and trend analysis, with supporting calculations and graphs. Your calculations must be shown, and you must be able to explain them. To be specific, financial statement analysis will contain the following sections: 4 a. VERTICAL COMMON-SIZE ANALYSIS b. HORIZONTAL COMMON-SIZE ANALYSIS c. FINANCIAL RATIO ANALYSIS d. COMPARISON OF THE PERFORMANCE The analysis will contain a comparison of the performance of your company with industry norms and the competitor. This comparison will be, preferably, over the same five years as your analysis. You may access appropriate resources, but you must identify the source of your comparative information. Be sure you are able to understand, explain and substantiate the information in these sources. NOTES: For all of this analysis, appropriate conclusions must be written out and supported by reference to specific ratios and trends. Graphs should be included, where appropriate. Line graphs are preferred. Pay attention to the scaling of the graphs. They are not meaningful if scaling is not appropriate.

9. PAYOUT POLICY: An appropriate analysis of the companys payout policy should be discussed. a. Dividend Policy. Discuss the current and past dividend policies of the firm (if there is any). Report dividend payments (regular and special if any-) for the past five years. Calculate the dividend payout ratio. b. Share Repurchases Policy (if there is any). Discuss share repurchase (buyback) policies. Why did the company buy back their shares?

10. M&A ACTIVITIES: Review the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) transactions of the company for the past five years (if there is any). List the target firms. List unsuccessful bids (if any). You may cite news articles about the acquisitions. Discuss the synergistic effects of the bids.

11. CONCLUSION: A conclusion regarding the companys financial strength and position within the industry, and an assessment of the companys ability to achieve its future plans. This conclusion must be supported by your analysis. The conclusion cannot be based on feelings. Specific reference to the financial analysis and key performance indicators is expected.

12. REFERENCES & RESOURCES & DATA: Resources consulted (what data has been analyzed and where did it come from) and method of collecting data.

13. APPENDIX / SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS: Please include any supplementary materials. You must include Excel spreadsheets (You may copy/paste with a nice format). If you receive any feedback after Excel update, you must incorporate and resolve issues and add them.

Company: Gartner, Inc