Ford Motor Company Qualitative Research Essay Paper
All I need is for you to find the information I will do everything else.
The company I am working on is Ford Motor Company and the vehicle I need information on is the Ford F-150 Lightning Pro truck.
CONDUCT QUALITATIVE RESEARCH ON THE COMPANIES
Provide relevant background information on each company, current forces affecting its operations, and its expectations for future years. The management discussion and analysis (MD&A) section of the company’s annual report will be a useful source for this type of information. In addition to the companies’ annual report, the teams may look at pulling current articles about the companies from the databases available through the University Library. There are a number of credible sources where this type of information can be obtained through the Internet.
Caution: It is dangerous to rely solely on the opinions and perceptions expressed by agents of a firm, since they may have a tendency to present an overly optimistic picture of the current state and future of their companies. After all, they have shareholders that pay close attention to their words and actions. It would be prudent to verify information through non-agents of the companies, such as financial and investment analysts who closely track the industry as well as media outlets that closely monitor and report on companies within the U. S. economy. It is understood that the opinions expressed by these sources are subject to bias regardless of how objective they attempt to be. The objective is to validate the information you obtain through more than a single source. This is a practice that all management officials should make a habit.
The teams will be expected to qualitatively analyze the content within the companies’ most recent independent audit of its financials and records. In performing this analysis, the teams should focus on the audit findings and opinions.
CONDUCT QUANTITATIVE ANALYSES OF THE COMPANIES (FINANCIAL)
Present a comprehensive financial statement analysis of the target acquisitions. Prepare the common size statements and all the ratios and amounts for the measures given below for the most recent year for both of your companies and present in a clear tabular form. Then discuss each category given below.
Prepare common-size financial statements for both target acquisitions
Complete both a horizontal and vertical analysis for each target acquisition
Compare the common-size financial statements between the two companies using cross-sectional analysis
Calculate and interpret relevant profitability, solvency, liquidity, leverage, market value ratios for each company that will be useful in comparing the target acquisition
For each company, graphically trend the net income and cash flow from operations over the last five years. Based on a comparison of the income statement to the statement of cash flows, what accounts explain the greatest differences between net income (loss) and cash flow from operations. Comment on the quality of the earnings numbers.
Calculate and interpret the net present value (NPV) of the companies’ annual free cash flow (FCF) for a 5 year period (NPER) taking into account a constant growth rate (which will need to be calculated), and a discount rate that is equal to your companies weighted average cost of capital (WACC), which is 7%.
Valuing Firms Using Present Value of Free Cash Flows (Links to an external site.)
How to use the NPER function in Excel (Links to an external site.) (3:41)