wk1 assignment3 michael smith

Vital to any ratio analysis are the steps of gathering financial data  and selecting and calculating relevant ratios. This assignment provides  you with an opportunity to do just that.

Task:

• Download a company’s balance sheet and income statement from one of the many sites where financials are available, such as Zacks Investment Research or MarketWatch.
• Choose five financial ratios, one from each of the five categories  described in Chapter 3 of Brigham and Ehrhardt (i.e., liquidity, asset  management, financial leverage, profitability, and market value) and  look at them over a three-year period. Put your findings in a table with  the years across the top (horizontal axis) and the ratios along the  side (vertical axis). What do the findings tell you about the financial  health of the company? How does your selected company compare to the  industry?
• Calculate each ratio using the information from the balance sheet and income statement.

Write a 2–3-page paper that reports your findings. Apply APA standards to citation of sources.