Question

Use the Internet to research an annual report of a retail company. Then, imagine you are an investor or creditor and suggest the ratios that you believe would provide an investor or creditor with the most important information needed to make accurate predictions about the company’s financial condition. When analyzing a company, is it more important to compare the ratios to competitors or to the company’s previous history? Provide a rationale for your response. Note: You must provide a link or instructions to the researched report.

Answer 1

Walmart is a retail company. It provides daily needs products.

From the Investor or Creditor point of view, these ratios are important:

Ratio Name	2018	2017	Explanation
Current Ratio	.76	.86	Current ratio tells the liquidity position of the company, it has come down from 2017 because of increase in current liabilities.
Quick Ratio	.16	.19	This tells the most liquid assets in the company, it has come down from 2017.
Debt-Equity	.60	.59	This tells the relationship between debt and equity in a company, Walmart's Debt equity ratio is good, it shows, company does not have much debt.
Interest coverage	7.49	9.66	This ratio tells how easily company can pay its interest on debt. Walmart's interest coverage has come down from previous year.
Net profit margin	1.99%	2.83%	This ratio tells the profitability of the company, NPM has come down from previous year.
Return on equity	12.66%	17.54%	This ratio tells the total return earned on the equity invested. This has come down from previous year.
P/E Ratio	26.62	16.02	This ratio tells how much price investors are paying and how much earning, they are getting on a single share, P/E has increased, that tells Walmart's share is expensive

Conclusion- It can be very well see that Walmart's financial, profitability and liquidity position was better in 2017 as compare to 2018.