Assignment and Essay

Listen (or read the transcript) to your organization's or Fedex's most recent earnings call and consider the following and respond to the proft margin question.

Have you ever listened to an earnings call?

What topics were included? Which were most helpful or insightful? Was there a topic you wished were included or expanded upon?

There is likely a discussion of the Profit Margin results. Was there an increase or decrease in Profit Margin and by how many basis points? Explain what this implies, what is the driving force, and what actions would you recommend?

Were the analysts questions aggressive and challenging or supportive and respectful? How well did management respond to the questions?

What additional insights were you able to gain in regards to the company's financial health, forward guidance, and strategic financial decisions?

Was there any information or perspective shared that a competitor could benefit from?

How will this additional information support your effectiveness within the organization?

*Basis points is a common measure used to denote .0001. Going from a 10.50% Profit Margin to a 10.15% is said to be a reduction of "35 basis points".

Here is a couple of the article links:

http://www.elplatform.com/assets/downloads/infoItems/29.pdf

http://www.sec.gov/answers/reada10k.htm

http://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/basispoint.asp