The purpose of this project is to help you understand and analyze basic financial information and write a business memo for the analysis.

This project requires each group to select two competitor companies in the same industry and download their annual report (or other source of financial statements, e.g. 10-k) of the year 2011 from companies' internet or SEC website. Using the concepts we talked in class, please analyze two companies' financial reports, including financial numbers, ratios and other measurements. Write your analysis and conclusions in a business memo.

Notes:

1. This assignment assumes you are a consultant and provide your findings to your client. Please make sure the memo is clear, brief and understandable. Also attach the appropriate information and calculation in the appendix for the clients to understand your results. You do not need to attach the whole income statement or balance sheet.

2. Refer to the document ‘Writing_Business_Memo' for the instructions of writing business memo. Make sure your memo is professional and in right format, including heading, objective, analysis, conclusion and appendix. The body of your memo and the appendix should each take half to one page.

3. You can work by yourself, with a partner, or in a group up to five people.

4. Use the financial information and ratios we covered in class or from other resources. You are not required to cover all the ratios we talk about. But for assignment purpose, I expect you to cover at least three aspects (numbers and ratios) of the company.

5. You are not required to make any investment decision. I just want you to know how to analyze the financial reports and know the meanings of the ratios. Compare two companies and talk about what the ratios or numbers mean to you.