What observations can you make from this horizontal analysis? What is your overall analysis of operations? Have the companys operations improved or declined over the last two-year period?

Particulars September 24, 2016 September 30,2017 Absolute changes Percentage changes Net sales $ 215,639 $ 229,234 $ 13,595 6.3 Cost of sales $ 131,376 $141,048 $ 9,672 7.4 Gross margin $ 84,263 $ 88,186 $ 3,923 4.7 Operating expenses : Research and development $ 10,045 $ 11,581 $ 1,536 15.3 Selling, general and administrative $ 14,194 $15,261 $ 1,067 - 7.5 Total operating expenses $ 24,239 $ 26,842 $ 2,603 10.7 Operating income $ 60,024 $ 61,344 $ 1,320 2.2 Other income/(expenses) net $ 1,348 $ 2,745 $ 1,397 103.6 $ 61,372 Income before provision for income taxes $ 64,089 $ 2,717 4.4 Provision for income taxes $ 15,685 $ 15,738 $ 53 0.3 Net income $ 45,687 $ 48,351 $ 2,664 5.8 Earning per share Basic 11.0 $8.35 $ 8.31 $9.27 $9.21 $0.92 $0.90 Diluted 10.8 | Shares used in computing earning per share: Basic 5,470,820 L 5,217,242 5,251,692 (253,578) (248,589) 4.6 4.5 Diluted 5,500,281 4.5 Particulars September 30,2017 September 29, 2018 Absolute changes Percentage changes Net sales $ 229,234 $ 265,595 $ 36,361 15.9 Cost of sales $ 141,048 $ 163,756 $ 22,708 16.1 Gross margin $ 88,186 $ 101,839 $ 13,653 15.5 Operating expenses Research and development $ 11,581 $ 14,236 $ 2,655 22.9 Selling, general and administrative $ 15,261 $ 16,705 $ 1,444 9.5 Total operating expenses $ 26,842 $ 30,941 $ 4,099 15.3 Operating income $ 61,344 $ 70,898 $ 9,554 15.6 Other income/(expenses), net $ 2,745 $ 2,005 $(740) (27.0) $ 64,089 $ 72,903 $8,814 Income before provision for income taxes 13.8 Provision for income taxes $ 15,738 $ 13,372 15.0 $(2,366) $ 11,180 Net income $ 48,351 $ 59,531 23.1 Earning per share Basic $ 9.27 $ 12.01 $ 2.74 29.6 Diluted $ 9.21 $ 11.91 $ 2.70 29.3 Shares used in computing earning per share Basic 5,217,242 4,955,377 (261,865) 5.0 Diluted 5,251,692 5,000,109 (251,583) 4.8