Comprehensive Case Assignment:

Costco (Ticker: COST), Target (Ticker: TGT), and Walmart (Ticker: WMT) are competitors in Discount/Variety Stores industry within the Services sector of the economy. Because of their similarities and direct competition with each other, they provide an excellent foundation for a Comprehensive Case to bring together all of the principles we will learn in class this semester.

Comprehensive Case Assignment:

Throughout the semester, in order to bring the lecture material to life, we will be conducting a “Comprehensive Case”.    The assignment will consist of numerous parts that will be due at various points throughout the semester (see syllabus).

• Part 1 – Accessing the Financial Information

• Part 2 – Analyzing the Financial Information

• Part 3 – Forecasting the Financial Information

• Part 4 – Modeling and Arriving at Values

• Part 5 – Drawing Conclusions and Taking a Position

The Purpose of the Comprehensive Case Assignment:

The purpose of the Comprehensive Case is to bring the Course Learning

Outcomes to life. Thus, it will focus on the following:

• Using financial information to conduct analysis and arrive at conclusions relating to a company’s current and future performance and financial condition.

• Using financial models and forecasts of financial statement information to arrive at conclusions regarding the company’s valuation or net worth and compare it to capital markets.

• Integrating the analysis and valuation tools in order to construct, justify, and defend (both orally and in writing) recommendation on business issues. (In other words, taking a position).

The assignment details for each “Part” of the Comprehensive Case assignment are outlined hereafter.

Costco (Ticker: COST), Target (Ticker: TGT), and Walmart (Ticker: WMT) are competitors in Discount/Variety Stores industry within the Services sector of the economy. Because of their similarities and direct competition with each other, they provide an excellent foundation for a Comprehensive Case to bring together all of the principles we will learn in class this semester.

Assignment:

Posted on Blackboard is a Comprehensive Case Template.  The objective of the assignment is to populate the Comprehensive Case Template with the most recent two years financials for Costco, Target, and Walmart.

• Download and save the template.
• Log in to SEC Edgar to Access the latest Financial Statements for Costco, Target, and Walmart.

1. a. www.sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/companysearch.html
2. b. Enter the Ticker
3. c. Click on Interactive Data next to the most recent 10-K filing

• Using this information, populate the Income Statement and Balance Sheet on the Comprehensive Case Template with the information from SEC Edgar.
• Turn in your Populated Template

We will utilize this case template to illustrate and compare these two organizations throughout the semester.  It will also become the foundation from which we will do forecasting and valuation for Costco Wholesale during class. Thus, perusing the rest of the 10K filings on SEC Edgar in a bit more detail may prove useful to your overall understanding and quality of learning from this semester-long comprehensive case exercise.

Costco (Ticker: COST), Target (Ticker: TGT), and Walmart (Ticker: WMT) are competitors in Discount/Variety Stores industry within the Services sector of the economy. Because of their similarities and direct competition with each other, they provide an excellent foundation for a Comprehensive Case to bring together all of the principles we will learn in class this semester.

Context:

So far, we have reviewed the 10K statements for Costco, Target, and Walmart on SEC Edgar, using that information to populate the Comprehensive Case Template which has been posted on Blackboard. The template provides an overview of the Balance Sheet and Income Statement from the last two years for each company.

Assignment:

Using the information from the Comprehensive Case Template as well as your understanding of the principles covered in the text and lectures, prepare a 2 page written case addressing the following by comparing Costco (as your primary company) to their competitors Target and Walmart:

As the template sets up most of the analysis, the focus of your written case should be the answers to the questions for each. Outlined below is a rubric indicating how the written cases will be graded.

Basic = 1 Point, Developed = 2 Points, Mastery = 3 Points.  Points will be summed up and divided out of points possible to arrive at the grade