Ask Basic Finance Expert

The ability of a business to meet its short-term cash requirements is called liquidity. It is affected by the timing of a company's cash inflows and outflows along with prospects for future performance. Efficiency refers to how productive a company is in using its assets, and it is usually measured relative to how much revenue is generated from a particular level of assets. They are both important and complementary.

Two measures for evaluating a business's short-term liquidity are working capital and the current ratio. Working capital is the dollar amount of a company's current assets less current liabilities as shown below:

Working capital = Current assets - Current liabilities

An excess of the current assets over the current liabilities implies that the company is able to pay its current liabilities. If the current liabilities are greater than the current assets, the company may not be able to pay its debts and continue in business. The current ratio is another means of expressing the relationship between current assets and current liabilities. The current ratio is computed by dividing current assets by current liabilities, as shown below.

Current ratio = Current assets/Current liabilities

The current ratio enables one to compare the liquidity of different-sized companies and
of a single company at different times. Both of these financial measures become even
more relevant when comparing your present results to those of previous years.

Determine the working capital and current ratios for 2004, 2005, and 2006 for the Target Corporation based on the information contained in the consolidated balance sheets in Appendix A. Did Target's working capital and current ratio increase or decrease from 2004 to 2006?

Asset Turnover reflects a company's ability to use its assets to generate sales and is an important indication of operating efficiency. It tells the analyst how many dollars of sales a company generates for each dollar invested in assets. It is computed by dividing net sales by average total assets, as shown below.

Asset Turnover = Net Sales/Average Total Assets

Determine the asset turnover ratio for 2004 and 2005 using the information contained in the consolidated balance sheet and income statement for the Target Corporation in Appendix A.

What conclusions can you draw concerning the relative liquidity and efficiency of this corporation? How does Target's results compare to other companies in the same industry? Would you invest in this company? Defend your position on these issues in a two or three paragraph typed response. Do not forget to include your calculations.

Basic Finance, Finance

  • Category:- Basic Finance
  • Reference No.:- M925953

Have any Question?


Related Questions in Basic Finance

Question utilizing the concepts learned throughout the

Question: Utilizing the concepts learned throughout the course, write a Final Paper on one of the following scenarios: • Option One: You are a consultant with 10 years experience in the health care insurance industry. A ...

Discussion your initial discussion thread is due on day 3

Discussion: Your initial discussion thread is due on Day 3 (Thursday) and you have until Day 7 (Monday) to respond to your classmates. Your grade will reflect both the quality of your initial post and the depth of your r ...

Question financial ratios analysis and comparison

Question: Financial Ratios Analysis and Comparison Paper Prior to completing this assignment, review Chapter 10 and 12 in your course text. You are a mid-level manager in a health care organization and you have been aske ...

Grant technologies needs 300000 to pay its supplier grants

Grant Technologies needs $300,000 to pay its supplier. Grant's bank is offering a 210-day simple interest loan with a quoted interest rate of 11 percent and a 20 percent compensating balance requirement. Assuming there a ...

Franks is looking at a new sausage system with an installed

Franks is looking at a new sausage system with an installed cost of $375,000. This cost will be depreciated straight-line to zero over the project's five-year life, at the end of which the sausage system can be scrapped ...

Market-value ratios garret industries has a priceearnings

(?Market-value ratios?) Garret Industries has a? price/earnings ratio of 19.46X a. If? Garret's earnings per share is ?$1.65?, what is the price per share of? Garret's stock? b. Using the price per share you found in par ...

You are planning to make annual deposits of 4440 into a

You are planning to make annual deposits of $4,440 into a retirement account that pays 9 percent interest compounded monthly. How large will your account balance be in 32 years?  (Do not round intermediate calculations a ...

One year ago you bought a put option on 125000 euros with

One year ago, you bought a put option on 125,000 euros with an expiration date of one year. You paid a premium on the put option of $.05 per unit. The exercise price was $1.36. Assume that one year ago, the spot rate of ...

Common stock versus warrant investment tom baldwin can

Common stock versus warrant investment Tom Baldwin can invest $6,300 in the common stock or the warrants of Lexington Life Insurance. The common stock is currently selling for $30 per share. Its warrants, which provide f ...

Call optionnbspcarol krebs is considering buying 100 shares

Call option  Carol Krebs is considering buying 100 shares of Sooner Products, Inc., at $62 per share. Because she has read that the firm will probably soon receive certain large orders from abroad, she expects the price ...

  • 4,153,160 Questions Asked
  • 13,132 Experts
  • 2,558,936 Questions Answered

Ask Experts for help!!

Looking for Assignment Help?

Start excelling in your Courses, Get help with Assignment

Write us your full requirement for evaluation and you will receive response within 20 minutes turnaround time.

Ask Now Help with Problems, Get a Best Answer

Why might a bank avoid the use of interest rate swaps even

Why might a bank avoid the use of interest rate swaps, even when the institution is exposed to significant interest rate

Describe the difference between zero coupon bonds and

Describe the difference between zero coupon bonds and coupon bonds. Under what conditions will a coupon bond sell at a p

Compute the present value of an annuity of 880 per year

Compute the present value of an annuity of $ 880 per year for 16 years, given a discount rate of 6 percent per annum. As

Compute the present value of an 1150 payment made in ten

Compute the present value of an $1,150 payment made in ten years when the discount rate is 12 percent. (Do not round int

Compute the present value of an annuity of 699 per year

Compute the present value of an annuity of $ 699 per year for 19 years, given a discount rate of 6 percent per annum. As