Financial Statement Analysis Project -- A Comparative Analysis of Kohl's Corporation and J.C. Penney Corporation

Using the financial statements for Kohl's Corporation and J.C. Penney Corporation, respectively, you will calculate and compare the financial ratios listed further down this documentfor the fiscal year ending 2010 and prepare your comments about the liquidity, solvency, and profitability of the two companies based on your ratio calculations. The entire project will be graded by the instructor at the end of the final submission in Week 7 and one grade will be assigned for the entire project.

Overall Requirements

1. A completed worksheet title page tab, which is really a cover sheet with your name, the course, the date, your instructor's name, and the title for the project.

2. A completed worksheet profiles tab, which contains a-one paragraph description regarding each company with information about their history, what products they sell, where they are located, etc.

3. All 18 ratios for each company with the supporting calculations and commentary on your worksheet ratio tab. Supporting calculations must be shown either as a formula or as text typed into a different cell.The ratios are listed further down this document. Your comments for each ratio should include more than just a definition of the ratio. You should focus on interpreting each ratio number for each company and support your comments with the numbers found in the ratios.

4. The Summary and Conclusions worksheet tab, which is an overall comparison of how each company compares in terms of the major category of ratios (liquidity, profitability, and solvency). A nice way to conclude is to state which company you think is the better investment and why.

5. The Bibliography worksheet tab must contain at least your textbook as a reference. Any other information you use to profile the companies should also be cited as a reference.

Required Ratios for Final Project Submission

1. Earnings per share

2. Current ratio

3. Gross profit rate

4. Profit margin ratio

5. Inventory turnover ratio

6. Days in inventory

7. Receivables turnover ratio

8. Average collection period

9. Assetturnover ratio

10. Return on assets ratio

11. Debt to total assets ratio

12. Times interest earned ratio

13. Payout ratio

14. Return on common stockholders' equity ratio

15. Free cash flow

16. Current cash debt coverage ratio

17. Cash debt coverage ratio