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Financial Statement Analysis and EPS Forecasting Report Assignment
First, choose a publicly traded company to analyze this semester. Choosing a US company which has
een trading for more than 3 years will alleviate many issues (i.e. translating cu
encies).
Next, gather historic data on key financial statements of the firm from either SEC filings
(http:
www.sec.gov/edga
searchedga
webusers.htm), Yahoo Finance (http:
finance.yahoo.com/) or the
firm’s own investor relations website. These include:
Balance Sheet
Income Statement
Cash Flow Statement
Also collect necessary information like stock price, shares outstanding, dividends paid, etc.
Then prepare a professional report to answer the following questions:
1. Compute the following ratios for the firm that you are analyzing, for the most recent period:
2. Comment on the financial condition of the firm in each of the above 5 categories in 2 or 3 sentences
each. Use the ratios of your firm as evidence of your assertions by comparing it to some benchmark
(historical ratios, competitors, market or industry average, etc.). If certain ratios are not applicable to
your firm (if your firm doesn’t have debt or inventory, for example), still write on these ratios and
how the absence of these items affects the firm – both the costs and benefits.
3. Decompose the ROE of your firm using the extended Du-Pont Analysis.
ROE =
http:
www.sec.gov/edga
searchedga
webusers.htm
http:
finance.yahoo.com
4. Compare these components of ROE for the firm’s cu
ent period its past periods to understand the
time trends.
5. Compare these components of ROE for the firm’s with its major competitor(s).
6. Now use the trends from questions 4 and 5 along with your own forecast of future macro-economic
conditions to forecast the firm’s Earnings per share and cash flow per share. See the Sample
Financial statement analysis in the course content for an example. To do this:
a. First, make a common sized income statement for the last 3 to 5 years (every number as a
percentage of revenue/sales).
. Next, measure the revenue growth for each year in the historical window.
c. Forecast future revenue growth both quantitatively (for example, using a linear fit trend
line
egression) and qualitatively.
d. Produce forecasted income statements for future years using your revenue growth projections
and common-sized balance sheets. Adjust items in income statement based on trends you see
in past data, competitors, and the economy as a whole.
Your grade will be based on the following ru
ic:
Item Weight
Question 1 18
Question 2 18
Question 3 9
Question 4 14
Question 5 13
Question 6 18
Overall Quality 10
Total 100