Ratio Analysis to Determine Corporate Health
Exxon and Wal-Mart One must consider many factors before deciding whether or not to invest in a company. The following is an analysis and comparison of the health of two well known companies, Exxon and Wal-Mart. Some of the factors that were analyzed include current ration, inventory turnover, accounts receivable turnover, and days’ sales in inventory. Most of the values used for the calculations were obtained from Yahoo Finance.
Current ratio evaluates a company’s ability to pay its short-term obligations (Wild, 2008). Exxon’s current ratio of 1.47 indicates that it should not have any issues paying its short-term obligations. In contrast, Wal-Mart’s current ratio of 0.88, indicates that the company’s current liabilities exceed current assets and thus investors should be doubtful of its ability to pay short-term obligations. Inventory turnover is another indicator of a company’s ability to pay short-term debt. Specifically, it is the number of times a company’s average inventory is sold during a period (Wild, 2008). Wal-Mart’s inventory turnover of 9.12 indicates that it may be holding more inventory than it needs, and thus it may be using its assets in efficiently. Exxon’s inventory turnover of 28.31 is more preferable, as long as inventory adequately meets demand (Wild, 2008). These numbers show that Wal-Mart may be having difficulties paying its short-term debt and thus caution should be warranted. Accounts receivable turnover measure the quality and liquidity of accounts receivable. Thus it indicates how often receivable are received and collected during the period (Wild, 2008). Exxon’s accounts receivable turnover is 15.6, while Walmart’s is 107.3. Exxon’s low turnover suggests management should consider stricter credit terms and more aggressive collection efforts to avoid its resources being