Financial Statement Analysis. Business & Marketing Research Paper
Written Report
Please select from one of these topics: Barnes & Nobles- BKS, LifePoint Health-LPNT, Avis-CAR, Northern Oil and Gas – NOG, Estee Lauder - EL, United Natural Foods – UNFI GrubHub - GRUB
select the company that can give a confrence call
Eight to Ten pages analytical report on a public company. 10 Pages
Maximum. 1.5 line spacing. NO MORE THAN 10 PAGES!!!!! – No
exceptions.
The report should briefly describe the company, its historical and current
operations, and future prospects.
Extra emphasis should be given to the summary and analysis of historical
financial results and revenue and earnings projections for the next 1 to 3 years.
The Market/Industry and Strategy are also critical.
Revenue and earnings projections should be in line with those presented in
research reports on the company from other financial services firms
Basic Outline
Summary Page (3/4 - 1 Page) Should be written last
Company
o Proper name (Symbol and Exchange)
Analytical Conclusion
o Current and anticipated value of the company. Whether or not the
company is going to make it. - Written last
Summary Financials (Price, Trading Range, Exchange, Market
Capitalization, Shares Outstanding - Basic and Diluted, Float,
Insider's Holdings, Cash, Equity, Gross and Operating Margins,
ROE, P/Es, Dividends, Debt to Equity, Current Ratio, Debt to Equity
ratio)
Highlights
o Key points of value (or lack of value of company).
o Bullet Point Format
o Make sure that all highlights are presented as they relate to the
company. For instance, an industry related item such as a major
acquisition by a competitor may be important and worth noting.
But, the relevance to the subject company must be discussed.
Description ( 1 Paragraph)
o Summary of company operations, strategy, markets and
objective.
Operations (1 Page)
o Summarize information available from public documents such as
Annual Report or 10K.
Strategy (1/2 - 1 Page)
o What is company trying to do. i.e., "be leading manufacturer of
…"
o What is the mission of the company "Provide products and
services to consumers of electronic products……etc.
o How are they doing it -
▪ What markets
▪ What countries
▪ What pricing strategies,
▪ Etc.
Management (1/2 Page)
o History and Background of KEY people (3 or 4 Max)
o Why do they make a good team and work well together
Markets (1/2 - 1 Page)
o What general and specific markets does the company work in.
o What is the size of the market (Total Dollar Figures)
o Who are the competitors
o Get information from industry analytical sources (i.e., IDC, Frost
& Sullivan, and industry trade groups
Financial Analysis and Projections (1 1/2 - 2 Pages)
o Historical numbers and trends (1/2 to 1 page MAXIMUM)
o Projections and support – Full Income
Statement, with projections, is
ESSENTIAL!!!!
o Balance Sheet
o Capitalization
o Tables should not cross pages
Risk Factors (1/2 Page)
o Real Risk Factors - i.e., High debt, low cash, strong competition,
changing government regulations, dependence on one customers,
etc. Whatever applies.
Conclusion and Summary (1 Paragraph)
o Your overall opinion.
o How is the company positioned
o Is it Under, Fairly, or Over Valued
Important Tips and Requirements for completing the Report
• ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY, DEFINITELY - No typing/spelling/grammatical mistakes –
More than one mistake immediately eliminates any chance of getting an A on the report. Spell
check the report and have someone else read it over.
• Be very careful with financial information - Make sure units are clearly indicated and correct
(i.e., millions vs. billions, etc.)
• Income Statement projections are essential – Yahoo will give you the bookends (Revenue and
EPS). These are only guides. You do not have to use them. But, if your numbers are
significantly different, be prepared to defend them. You MUST fill in all the details in-between.
• Use the third person narrative – You are not the company, so terms like “we” and “our” are
not appropriate. You can use “We” and “Our” when giving your opinion. The inappropriate
use of the terms “We” and “Our” demonstrates poor attention to detail and makes your professor
very, very mad. It is also guaranteed to result in a significant grade reduction.
• The most important sections are the Financial Analysis and Market sections - Make sure
you identify the market size and competitors.
• Don’t bother with a lot of history – One paragraph, at most. SERIOUSLY!
• Don’t give opinions of others (i.e., Management and Analysts). Your opinion is the only one that
counts.
• Don’t rehash basic terms and concepts – For instance, from one student’s report - “Net cash
provided by operating activities primarily consists of net loss (income) adjusted for certain noncash
items including depreciation and amortization, provision for doubtful accounts, etc……..”
We already know that. You are not teaching financial concepts in this report.
• Check the report against the instructions – Finish the report. Go over it for grammar and typos.
Check the report against the instructions. Have someone else review the report. It would be great
if you can have someone review the report who is known to have good grammar and can write
well.
• Don’t waste a lot of time with operational and historical details – Write, paste, edit, just
enough information so the reader knows what the company is about and can understand what you
are analyzing. LESS is MORE!!!!
• Originality – While it is okay to lift certain sentences and descriptions from other documents, at
least 50% of the report should be original and in your own words.
• One Document – Everything should be on one document (Text, Tables, Financial Statements).
• Limit Bullet Points – Most of the report should be text.
Attached are copies of two sample report.
Financial Statement Analysis
Name
Institutional Affiliation
Financial Statement Analysis
Barnes & Noble Inc (BKS)
Company Overview
Charles Barnes, William Barnes, and Clifford Noble established the Barnes & Noble Company (BKS) on November 19, 1886. BKS operates as a bookseller and also deals with both content management and other commercial activities. In its content management department, BKS offers business books through its Barnes & Noble Retail Division. In addition, BKS also sells the books through the NOOKsection (Reuters, n.d.). Other products that the Corporation sells include the science fiction books, love affairs, and the kids' books. Furthermore, the firm sells eBooks and magazines, and provides the cyber cafe services that also include physical goods. On the online platform, the Barnes & Noble Corporation provides toys and games that children use for learning purposes. There are also educational cinemas and songs that clients of the firm download from its website. Another noble service the Corporation provides is the renting of textbooks. Currently, BKS operates about 630 bookstores and also maintains an e-business website.
There is the emerging competition in the e-commerce, which is a potential threat to the future of BKS. The financial performance of BKS has not been good, bearing in mind that there are many competitors in the market today. Investors are shifting to companies with a high profitability and this is a threat to the future of BKS.
Selected 3-Year Financial Trend of BKS
Table SEQ Table \* ARABIC 1. BKS three-year Financial Performance
BKS Revenue (Y/Y Growth %)
2018
2017
2016
IV Quarter
April
-4.28 %
28.78 %
-67.48 %
III Quarter
January
-5.31 %
-7.99 %
-16.23 %
II Quarter
October
-7.85 %
-4.04 %
-27.64 %
I Quarter
July
-6.63 %
-24.94 %
-7.9 %
Source (CSImarket.com, 2018)
Highlights from Financial Trend
BKS is currently having a poor financial performance record for the past three years. In the last quarter of 2018, Barnes & Noble experienced a bottom-line of $ -0.29, while in the same period of the preceding year the company reported it at $ -0.19. Although the specialty retail business dropped by around -31%, the retail segment went up by more than 45%. The whole market generally performed better by about 21%. Barnes & Noble Inc. grew less than the market.
BKS operations
Barnes and Nobles is the U.S’s top bookseller brand with 630 retail locations in America. The bookstores of the firm carry a variety of selections on books as well as magazines, music, DVDs, toys, and games for kids. BKS is also the topmost internet bookseller in America and has several books available for its clients for online reading and borrowing at a fee (BKS Inc., 2018). The BKS website provides tools for customers to search within the huge selection to find precisely the books they are looking for.Other features on the website have developed Barnesandnoble.com into a location for book lovers to share their passion and experience the best of the publishing industry.Barnes and...
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