1

Guideline

for

FIRE

371

Paper

You are required to write a financial analysis paper for a publicly-traded US company.

Learning objective: "Write thoughts in a concise manner with proper English."

Paper:

Each paper must contain the following contents. (2-3 pages in length; font size:12; line spacing:

1~1.5; margins 0.7~1.25)

1. Introduction…………………………………………………………………about 0.5 page

Briefly describe the company’s history and background and key information, e.g., size

(capitalization), products/main business, its main competitors, and the characteristics of its

industry, etc.

2. Financial Analysis (based on the calculated ratios)………... …………………… about 1-2

page

(1). Trend Analysis for each ratio: analyze the firm over the past 3 years (i.e., the most recent 3

years)

(2). Peer Analysis for each ratio: compare the firm to its industry or other representative firm in

its industry, over the past 3 years. (You decide if use the industry or the other representative firm

in the peer analysis.)

What you need to do includes:

• Download the financial statements and stock price information into Excel (obtain the data

from Research Insight) and arrange them into appropriate format.

• Calculate 8 financial ratios (at least one ratio in each category, please see Chapter 3, table

3.5) over the past 3 years, and show the calculation in Excel file.

• Graph the 8 ratios:

o One ratio in each graph.

o The ratio of the target and the peer company/industry over the 3 years should be

shown in the same graph for each ratio.

o Show the work of graphing in Excel.

• Compare and analyze the eight financial ratios over the last three years and with those of

the industry (from e.g., MSN) or peers over the same period in your paper.

• The financial statements, stock prices, graphs and ratios should be attached to your paper as

an appendix.

3. Conclusions……………………………………………………………….......... about 0.5 page

Briefly give your opinions of the company’s prospects based on your analysis

4. References (if you use any, not included in the 2-3 pages mentioned above)

Provide the following information: varies depending on the type of source and may include:

• Book: author(s), book title, publisher, date of publication, and page number(s)

2

• Journal: author(s), article title, journal title, year of publication, volume and issue no. and

page number(s).

• Newspaper: author(s), article title, name of newspaper, section title and page number(s),

date of publication.

• Web site: author(s), article and publication title where appropriate, as well as a URL, and

a date when the site was accessed.

Appendixes:

These are not included in the 2-3 pages mentioned above. Should be attached with your

paper, including:

1) your calculated ratios and graphs

2) financial statements and stock price information

3) sources of the industry/peer company ratios cited in your paper. You can also calculate the

ratios yourself.

Please have all the financial statements, stock price, ratio calculation, and graphs in one excel

file. They can be in the same sheet or in different sheets.

Submission requirement:

1. Please hand in a printed copy of your paper and all the appendixes, AND,

 

2. Submit your paper and all the appendixes to Dropbox on D2L before the due date and time.

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