In this group project, you will consider investing in one of two companies (mentioned below) and write a paper on the positives and negatives you assessed when evaluating and comparing these two companies for a potential investment of your $10,000. You will need to perform a ratio analysis using Excel, the fundamentals of ratio analysis are discussed in the recording below.
The two companies that you need to evaluate and compare
- Home Depot
- Lowe’s
write the ratio analysis. Make sure to include the following:
- Part 1: For each company analyze the ratios for the current year and the prior year and group them into either negative or positive findings. Make sure to include a discussion as to why you group them as negative or positive!
- Part 2: Which company would you rather invest in and why?
- Part 3: Pick 1 one ratio with a big difference between the companies and discuss what might be driving this difference.
- Part 4: Provide one recommendation for each company to improve one of the ratios that you’ve calculated. The improvement should be implementable, it is not sufficient to suggest something like “improve the debt to equity ratio by improving debt.”
