Question Description
For this assignment you will select to work on EITHER Polaris or Arctic Cat. Depending on which you choose, access the firm’s financial statements for fiscal years ending after December 31, 2014, from the firm’s website (Polaris.com & Arcticcat.com) or the SEC database (www.sec.gov). Use the most current 10K statements available on SEC or annual statements in Yahoo Finance. Complete the following for your chosen firm (Polaris or Artic Cat) in an Excel spreadsheet:
Horizontal and vertical analysis of the income statements for the past two years (all yearly balances set as a percentage of total revenues for that year) for both firms.
Horizontal and vertical analysis of the balance sheets for the past two years (all yearly balances set as a percentage of total assets for that year) for both firms.
Ratio analysis (eight ratios of your choosing) for the past two years PLUS a measurement for the creditworthiness of both firms as measured by Altman’s Z-score.
Take the information from the spreadsheet you just made to write the paper:
Be 4-6 pages in length.
Include a proper introduction and conclusion.
Include a reference page.
Provide a comparative analysis of the financial health of both firms. Your paper should provide your reader with an overall understanding of the financial health of the companies including the following:
Discussion of the ratio analysis results, including rationale for the ratios chosen.
Discussion of all horizontal and vertical analysis from above.
Discussion of four items from the management discussion of the firm that support the conclusion formed in your discussion of the financial results.