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Dasljsf Jkhs s fiCostco is a wholesale clubs that operated a chain of warehouses that sold food and generalmerchandise at large discounts to member customers. It’s closest competitors are SAM’s Cluband BJ’s Wholesale. Costco win the competition by targeting a wealthier clientele of smallbusiness owners and middle class shoppers. There are several strategies that used to makedifferentiation:
a)
Segmented target market: Wealthier clientele of small business owners and middle classshoppersb)Low price sell: margin not more than 14%c)Sell product in bulk packaged)Implement just in-time process in order to reduce inventory costCostco wholesale went public in November 1985 at a price of $ 10 per share and when ithappened, the company has 15 warehouses in operation. Margarita Torres, one of Costco’smember purchased shares in Costco Wholesale Corporation because she impressed by thecompany’s low prices and the local warehouse is always crowded. After the analysis to the Costco’s financial performance for the previous 5 years, Torresconcluded that the company had grown at a manageable rate using internally generated fundsrather than debt or equity to finance expansion. Although the company suffers from the rapidintroduction of stores, the financial ratios indicated that it not impact on the operational efficiency(asset and inventory turnover steady also gross and operating margins remained healthy).There are 2 components in judging the value of stock holding, which is :a.The future performance of the businessb.The potential for continued returns from the current price levelsTorres evaluate her investment in 2 steps, which are :1.Forecast the company’s operations several years out to understand what the businesswould look in terms of number of stores, sales per store, and profitability.2.Value the business using a discounted cash flow model to get a better understanding of what rate of future return she should expect, given the current stock priceThe process of forecasting is relied on the information from the industry reports which compiledby Standard and Poor’s, research analyst reports, web casts with company managementarchived on the investor relations section of company websites, and business periodicals. Thereare 4 steps in determining a financial forecast, which are :
a.
Listing the fundamental factors that would drive growth, which are :1.Number of warehouses that the company would operate in the U.S2.Sales per store ($100 million)3.Membership base4.Operating margins5.International expansion
b.
Forecasting Costco’s income statement and computing a rough estimate of free cash flowbased on the determination in step a. In doing this, Torres do