University of Houston-Victoria
FINC 6352- Financial Management
Dr. Xavier Garza Gomez
Mini Project 1
Financial ratios & growth analysis
1. Purpose of the project:
In this project, you are supposed to be a financial analyst covering a public firm. You have to
apply the knowledge obtained in the Financial Statement Analysis (ACCT6351) course and
chapters 2 and 3 of our textbook to determine the firm’s strengths and weaknesses relative to its
peers, to describe recent trend of key variables, to evaluate firm’s historical performance and to
project growth for key variables.
2. Outline for the project:
(1) Company Profile
Students will present basic information to describe the firm, the industry where it
operates and at least 2 of its competitors. Simple comparisons must be included for some
key variables (country of origin, market cap, revenue, income, etc)
(2) Show financial ratios for company and main competitors
Students will prepare tables and charts using financial ratios from D&B Hoovers and
Mergent Online (accessible from http://vcuhvlibrary.uhv.edu/) and report the categories
below for the company under study and at least two of its competitors.
• Market Value Ratios (D&B)
• Profitability Ratios (Mergent)
• Asset Management (Mergent)
• Debt Management (Mergent)
• Liquidity Ratios (Mergent)
Students don’t need to calculate the ratios, just take them from the D&B or Mergent and
merge with the numbers from the competitors. For each of the categories of ratios,
students will identify if the firm is average, below average or above average relative to
competitors. The leader in each category must be identified. Report areas in which the
company is leading and where it is lagging. Trends observed for the most recent 15 years
must be commented in the report.
FINC 6352 – Financial Management MP1 Dr. Xavier Garza Gómez
(3) Trend analysis
Students will obtain 15 years of financial data from Mergent Online for the company under
study. They must obtain balance sheet, income statement and statement of cash flows and
they must download two reports: the standardized statements and the “As reported”. They
will plot charts for Sales, income, EPS, Assets, Shareholders equity and shares outstanding
and other relevant variables. Students will then try to identify key trends in performance
and/or important financial ratios that can be linked to the business strategy.
(4) DuPont Analysis
Students will calculate components of DuPont identity and plot them for recent years.
Student should describe the performance of each component and identify possible changes
in business strategy.
(5) Growth Analysis
Students will calculate growth rate for relevant variables that were plotted before (Sales,
income, EPS, Assets, Shareholders equity and shares outstanding, etc.) and determine how
mature the company is and how efficient the company is when pursuing growth.
(6) Growth Projection
Students will plot year-by year growth rates and conclude about possible future growth for
key variables (sales, earnings, dividends)
3. Other information regarding the project:
(1) Your project should be well-organized and typed in a Word document, but you must attach
the Excel file with your report. The style and organization part of the project account for
10 percent of the grade.
(2) Financial information obtained in this MP will be used in other mini projects.
This mini project is worth 60 points (out of 1000).
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FINC 6352- Financial Management at the University of Houston-Victoria
Xavier Garza Gomez, M.D.
Mini Project No. 1
Financial ratios and growth projections
1. The project’s goal:
In this project, you are a financial analyst covering a public company. You must.
Apply what you learned in the Financial Statement Analysis (ACCT6351) course.
chapters 2 and 3 of our textbook to assess the firm’s strengths and shortcomings in comparison to its competitors.
peers, to characterize the most current trend of key factors, to assess the firm’s previous performance, and to
Key factors should be projected to grow.
2. The project’s outline:
(1) Organizational Profile
Students will give basic information to describe the firm and the industry in which it operates.
operates, as well as at least two of its competitors For this, simple comparisons must be included.
