Walmart balance sheet analysis

Nova Southeastern University H. Wayne Huizenga School of Business & Entrepreneurship

Assignment for Course:

ACT 5140 – Accounting for Decision Makers

Submitted to:

Dr. Vik Desai

Submitted by:

xxx

xxx

Date of Submission: Sunday, September 27th 2015

Title of Assignment: Financial Analysis Assignment – Wal-Mart

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ACT 5140 – Accounting for Decision Makers

Walmart Analysis Assignment

Directions: Answer all the questions. Please submit your work in Word or PDF formats only. You can submit an Excel file to support calculations, but please “cut and paste” your solutions into the Word or PDF file. Be sure to show how you did your calculations. Also, please be sure to include your name at the top of the first page of your file.

Part 1

Perform a vertical and horizontal analysis of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.’s income statements and balance sheets as of January 31, 2015. In performing this analysis, consider any notable trends or changes that you observe that may provide useful information concerning its financial condition. Also use as many years’ worth of statements as you feel necessary. You should write up your results in paragraph form.

Part 2

Assess Wal-Mart, Stores Inc. concerning liquidity, solvency, profitability, and stock performance as of January 31, 2015. For each area, you should calculate the ratios we discussed in class and provide an analysis of the ratios calculated. I include historical stock price information and outstanding common share information below.

Fiscal Year Ended

1/31/2015

1/31/2014

1/31/2013

1/31/2012

Adjusted Closing Price

$83.94

$71.97

$65.79

$56.32

Common Shares Outstanding (millions)

3,228

3,233

3,314

3,418

Part 1 – Vertical and Horizontal Analysis

Vertical Analysis

Vertical analysis is a method in which the relationship between items in the same financial statement is identified by converting all amounts into percentages of the total. This method is also known as the common size as it allows to compare companies of different sizes in the same industry.

This type of analysis has two main advantages; the first is that the percentages can be compared over a number of periods allowing to identify unusual changes in the accounts over time. The unusual changes can be further analyzed and action is taken to bring percentages back to normal levels. The second advantage is that financials from companies of different sizes within the same industry can be compared. This type of comparison allows seeing where companies stand versus a particular competitor or the industry. In the case of Wal-Mart the comparison is performed to industry benchmark.

The vertical analysis on the income statement is performed by comparing each expense to the net sales and the balance sheet is performed by comparing each asset to the total assets and the liabilities, long term debt and equities are shown as a percentage of the total liabilities and stockholder equity.

Income Statement