The following table provides selected financial information for Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp. for the fiscal year ending in 2023:

($ millions)	Apple Inc.	Microsoft Corp.
Net sales	$394,328	$168,088
Cost of sales	227,546	52,232
Gross profit	166,782	115,856
Operating expenses:
Selling, general, and administrative	22,763	20,091
Research and development	27,897	21,915
Operating income	116,122	73,850
Interest and other (income) expense	5,269	3,110
Interest and investment income	(3,402)	(1,206)
Earnings before provision for income taxes	114,255	71,946
Provision for income taxes	22,851	13,112
Net earnings	$91,404	$58,834

Required: a. Compute return on equity (ROE), return on assets (ROA), and return on financial leverage (ROFL) for each company for fiscal year 2023. Assume a tax rate of 35%. b. Disaggregate the ROA’s computed into profit margin (PM) and asset turnover (AT) components. Which of these factors drives ROA for each company? c. Analyze the trend of operating income for each company from the previous three years. How does the trend affect the overall financial health of the companies? d. Evaluate the interest coverage ratio for both companies. What does this indicate about their financial stability? e. Compare the net profit margins of Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp. What can be inferred about their profitability and cost management?