RESEARCH PAPER
Do a Financial Analysis of Starbucks Company (symbol: SBUX) comparing it to Dunkin Donuts (symbol: DNKN)
Be sure to explore all the tabs and ways you can get any info you might need.
ALL YOUR NUMBERS SHOULD COME FROM THESE TWO SOURCES (EXCEPT ANY FOR FINDING ABOUT BUSINESS STRATEGY & NONFINANCIAL FACTOR SECTION).
Paper should be no more than 10 pages (total) single space, TimesRoman 12 point, including graphs and tables which should preferably be within the body of the paper, and not at the end to make it easier to refer to them. In other words, put tables and charts/graphs within the body of the paper.
Always use the correct units (billions, millions, thousands) and round to make sense and ease of understanding to the user. For instance, do not write $16,400 million! Instead write $16.4 billion )
Do not put a lot of extra digits in that are hard for the reader to consume ($1,204,434,243.04 - no! $1.2 billion - yes!) Part of the grade is presentation! Party of presentation is making it communicate effectively. Part of that is simplicity and emphasizing what is important and cutting out what is irrelevant.
COVER PAGE (title, your names, date ...)
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND FINDINGS (1/2 - 1 page)
Include the purpose of your paper (to compare two competitor companies as to which one is stronger financially (likely to succeed financially). Who are you? Why are you writing this paper? Who are you writing to? (you can make it up) What info did you analyze (what 3 years)and where did you get it.
For instance you can say you are analyzing Ford for another company (who has hired you) to see if it is viable for a long-term partnership. Or you can say you are analyzing it for an investment in its stock or purchase it bonds.
Summary of conclusions. This should be long enough to make a conclusion and list the specifics and support for that conclusion. (e.g., we recommend purchasing Ford's bonds, because it has a strong balance sheet (as evidenced by .... Ratios and ....) and a strong income statement (as evidenced by .... Profit margins.... Sales growth ... etc)
BACKGROUND AND NON FINANCIAL FACTORS (you should provide your own titles)
You don't have to discuss all of the following, but enough to understand why or why not this company is likely to succeed. What is the auto industry all about. Where does Ford fit in. How does it compete with others - do they all follow the same strategy? Do they own delearships, do they concentrate on the high luxury end, do they go for mass market ????
Discuss Industry, Industry structure (e.g., oligopoly, pure competition,)
Economic drivers for the industry (costs, innovation, vertical integration, marketing/image/brand, quality, access to raw materials, supplier relationships ...)
Where does it fit in industry? Are both competing on same lines, both have same or different strategies? Does one buy cheap and use private labels, or buy quality and discount? Low cost producer? Or niche player?
What are their respective market shares? Overall or by product.
What are the factors/trends that affect future success? Technological change? Automation? Aging of customer base? Foreign competition?
What about ownership/management: Who calls the shots? Does any owner or owner group (e.g., Walton family with Walmart) exert control?
Financial Evaluation (the main section whose parts will be longer or shorter as they are relevant to overall goal of paper) Try to put information in Tables and supplement with charts so that you can refer to the numbers (without having to repeat them) as you go. Remember 3 years of data. Graphs/charts are great to show trends. But only if relevant.