The following information is taken from recent annual reports and 10-K filings of six publicly traded retailers. All financial information is in $ Millions. Average Retail Square # of Company Revenue COGS Inventory Footage (000s) Stores Autozone $ 11,221 $ 4,902 $ 3,913 41,066 6,202 Costco 141,576 121,715 10,437 110,700 762 Home Depot 108,203 71,043 13,337 237,700 2,287 Lowes 71,309 48,396 11,977 209,000 2,015 OReilly 9,536 4,237 3,102 38,455 5,219 Walmart 511,729 374,623 44,026 1,129,000 11,361 Required

a. Compute the Inventory turnover ratio and days inventory outstanding for each company.

b. Compute the gross profit margin for each company.

c. Based on your calculations above, how would you rank the performance of the six companies? Explain.

d. Although all six firms are retailers, it could be argued that they exist in different market spaces. Group them into three groups of two similar competitors. Identify what the three sub industries are that you have chosen. Does this affect your analysis from part (c)?

e. Compute the following non-financial ratios for each company: Revenue per square foot and revenue per store. What do you observe?

f. For each of the three groups which competitor would you consider is doing better? Explain.