company Research Paper

Professional Quality.  Prepare your report as a professional looking document for which you were paid a great deal of money.  Be careful with grammar and spelling; business leaders have a “zero tolerance” policy regarding basic spelling and grammar mistakes.

Your paper should be written in 12 pt. font, one inch margins and double spaced.   All parts should be written in the same font.  Do not label each part as to who prepared it.  The paper should read as one cohesive paper.  Use “we” not “I” when writing.  It should follow the order cited below and in the rubric (which is in your excel worksheets.  You should have headings for each section of the paper.

Part 1-The paper

Written Report and Company Research

Purpose:

• Use a variety of resources to research a corporation.
• Research the current stock quote of your company and analyze past market activity.
• Prepare a financial statement analysis using condensed, trend and common-size financial statements.
• Compute financial statement ratios and analyze.
• Compare company ratios to industry averages.
• Support your investing advice with three to five significant points based on previous research, analysis and sound reasoning.
• Prepare a well-written report analyzing your corporation using appropriate business and accounting vocabulary.

 

Part A: Tell me about your company-its industry, its products, and its market (1-2 pages)  10 points

Choose a company to research.  The company must be publicly traded but not regulated.  Each team will select a different company.  Four students per team.  The instructor must approve the company.  If you are undecided about which company to select, choose one of the 30 corporations comprising the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) listed below or one of the companies used in this text, which can be found in Appendix A.  (see page 301).

Research your company using a variety of resources.

1. Explore the corporate website, which usually provides updated comprehensive information including links to current news items and financial information.  Note that the company provides the information posted on the website and, therefore, may be biased in favor of the company.  Answer the following questions:
2. Location of the corporate headquarters
3. Industry
4. Primary products or services provided by the corporation
5. Major competitors

 

2. Review the Annual Report, especially the Letter to Shareholders and Management’s Discussion & Analysis, which summarizes the past year and highlights future opportunities.  Links to the Annual Report are usually found on the company website under Investor Relations.

 

3. Consult the Form 10-K filed with the SEC.  This form contains a wealth of information.  Read through Part 1 Item 1.  Business to find information regarding the business, product offerings, market strategy, competition, and market share.
4. Additional sources of information which can be accessed through the Library research portal are:
5. D&B Industry Norms and key business ratios
6. Standard & Poor’s Net Advantage
7. Almanac of Business & Industrial Financial ratios
8. Hoover’s
9. Sources of financial statements are:
10. Yahoo finance
11. Morningstar
12. Bloomberg Business Week
13. MSN Money

 

 

Part B:  Company News (1-2 pages)

 

Search for at least to significant news items or events that have affected your company or its industry over the past year.  Briefly describe each event.  Next, discuss how this event will affect the company’s operations and the financial ratios.  Make certain that the item is truly newsworthy unless it is a major surprise.

 

Part C:  Stock Market Activity (1-2 pages)

 

Summarize the market activity of your company’s stock, including the current stock quote and market activity over the most recent ten years.  In addition, explain trends and events influencing the stock chart.  Include your company’s ten-year stock chart.