Use an internet search engine of your choice and do a general search on the name of a publicly traded corporation of interest to you. Explore the website of the corporation you chose and locate that company’s most recent Annual Report. You may need to look under a category that provides general information about the company and/or investor information. Then:
In the Annual Report, find and read the description of the corporation, including the type of business it is in. Briefly summarize the information that you learned in the first paragraph of your initial post, and explain why gaining an understanding of the industry and type of business are important starting points for financial statement analysis.
Then, locate the company’s primary financial statements in the Annual Report. Does your chosen corporation report its Statement of Cash Flows under the Direct or the Indirect method? Explain your thoughts as to why your chosen corporation might use one method over the other in the presentation of its Cash Flows.
From your company’s financial statements, calculate at least two ratios under each of the following categories: “liquidity,” “solvency,” and “profitability.” Show your work in calculating these ratios. Write a brief statement describing what you have learned about your company’s liquidity, solvency, and profitability.