Financial Research Report Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Financial Report - Research Paper Example Also, the company has an enviable customer base that is extremely loyal towards the iOS platform. The company has maintained historical records of maintaining a customer retention percentage of more than 90%. The analysts and the investors are considering Apple as a strong buy based on the Fibonacci model. The Fibonacci retracements state that the stock prices follow a trend of rising strongly, then falling down to a lower price followed by a significant upturn. This justifies the fall of the stock prices in the fourth quarter of 2012 followed by a steep rise in the stock prices starting from the first quarter of 2013. Apple is considered as a fundamentally and technically strong company ideal for investment in its stocks (Edwards, 2007). The value driven mutual funds consider Apple as an important stock for investment and almost 40% of these mutual funds hold positions in Apple with more than USD 1 billion of assets. The biggest investors of the world are expected to accelerate the growth of shareholder value of Apple through buy backs and dividend pay-outs. The balance sheet of Apple is strong with zero debt value and high cash reserves of more than USD 1.45 billion. Around 74% of the analysts in the Wall Street hold a strong buy on the shares of Apple Inc. Moreover, the company is projected to surpass the earnings expectations by the end of the last quarter of 2013. The stocks of Apple Inc. represent more than 13% of the 100 stocks in NASDAQ and remain the most famous stock to invest by the hedge funds. Ratio analysis   Ratio Analysis for Apple Inc. Ratios 2013 2012 2011 Return on assets 0.18 0.24 0.22 Current ratio 1.68 1.50 1.61 Quick ratio 1.64 1.48 1.58 Debt Equity ratio 0.68 0.49 0.52 Debt ratio 0.40 0.33 0.34 Price earnings ratio 13.96 11.75 13.77 EPS 39.75 44.15 27.68 Working Capital 29628000 19111000 17018000 Return on Assets The Return on Assets percentage indicates the profitability of the assets of a business in terms of earning revenue for the business (Brown, 2003). Ideally, the return on assets should be greater than 5%. In the case of Apple Inc. the ratio of net income to total assets decreases from 22% in 2011 to 24% in 2012 and to 18% in 2013. The return on assets ratio for Apple is quite high compared to the industry standards and indicates that the business is efficient in employing the stakeholder’s assets in generating income. The better use of the assets i.e. debt and equity in a business is represented by a higher percentage of ROA. Though the ROA percentages of Apple Inc. have decreased from 2011 to 2013, yet the investors would consider 18% ROA as a positive factor for investing in the stocks of Apple Inc. Current ratio Current ratio is used to measure how equipped the business ids to pay off its short term obligations like payables and debts using the current assets in the business like inventory, cash and other receivables. Current ratio is simply calculated by dividing the current assets by the curr ent liabilities which include short term debts and other liabilities that are due within a period of less than a year. An ideal current ratio is valued at 2:1. The current ratios of Apple Inc. are measured at 1.61 in 2011, 1.50 in 2012 and 1.68 in 2013. Thus, the current ratios of Apple Inc. are strong over the three years indicating that the business