APPLE ANALYSIS

Part B: Numerical Analysis

Section A

Computations

In this second phase of the research project, you will provide the following information necessary to begin your research. Use the Excel spreadsheet posted in the Content section of Blackboard to input quarterly financial data for your chosen company. Quarter 4 should correspond to the most recent yearend data for the company as is produced in the company's 10K report. Using the Excel template, compute the ratios for the four most recent quarters of your chosen company.

Sources of free data include Yahoo Finance and MSN Money. Research at least three Web sites to obtain the most accurate and reliable information. By using at least three sources, you will be able to select the financial information from two of the sources with the most closely corresponding information.

Part B: Analysis

Create your complete analysis report as a Word document by copying the relevant sections of the Excel spreadsheet into the document. This report will include your ratio computations, a financial trend comparison and an industry-performance comparative financial analysis.

Include a synopsis of the major ratios computed in Part Two-A as well as the following sections:

Section B

Financial Trend Comparison

For each of the five ratio categories: Liquidity, Asset Utilization, Profitability, Debt Utilization, and Market Values, write a paragraph regarding the trend and implications about the future financial health of the company. You do not have to address every single category, just enough to determine the overall trend.

Section C

Comparative Financial Analysis of the company compared to the industry performance

Write a paragraph regarding your company's comparative performance to the industry average (or its closest competition for the most recent year. Many times it is not possible to find the industry averages for several of the categories. Supplement this analysis by looking at the results of the company's closest competitor. You do not have to address every single category, just enough to determine the overall situation.

Section D

Graphical Analysis

Describe the financial trend and comparative financial analysis graphically. Be creative here, a picture is worth a thousand words! Under each chart write one sentence summarizing the financial trend and comparative analysis from above.

Section E

Ethics

Business ethics, as defined by Corporate Finance (2009) text authors' Ehrhardt and Brigham, "are a company's attitude and conduct toward its employees, customers, community, and stockholders" (p.7). Provide an analysis of the ethics of your company that answers the following questions:

- Is there a well-defined code of ethics or code of conduct?

- Is there evidence of continued and repeated emphasis by the Board of Directors or the CEO, of the importance of ethical conduct to the corporation and its business ventures?

- What processes are in place (if any) that make it safe and easy for employees or other interested parties to report ethical lapse?

Include documentation from your research that supports your analysis of the ethics of your company.

Part Three: Individual Report Conclusion and Decisions

Based on the analyses above, arrive at an investment conclusion by writing a paragraph for each of the following three decisions. You must support your conclusions with reasoned logical statements as to why or why not. Note, your decisions should reflect your own personal situation, in other words you should "Know your client", and in this case, you are the client.

Section F

Conclusions

Feel free to include a synopsis of a SWOT analysis here and should be individualized based on your investment horizon. (SWOT: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats).

Decisions

1. Would you place a personal deposit of one million dollars or more in the publicly traded stock of this company?

2. Would you invest $500,000 in the debt (bonds) of this company?

3. If you were a member of the Board of Directors of a bank and you sat on that Bank's Credit Committee, would you grant a one million dollar line of credit for Overnight or Term Federal Funds to this company?

Bibliography

All sources are to be shown in accordance with APA manual of style, including Web pages.

Employ a minimum of three sources with proper citations and incorporate your research into your essay. Include footnotes or endnotes, as well as works cited, at the conclusion of your paper. If information is downloaded from the Internet, make sure you put the date it was accessed.