United Health Care Group vs. Cigna Corporation: Comprehensive Financial Analysis of a company

The second part of the project (using the tools and techniques given in Chapter 4 of the textbook, Financial Management Theory and Practice 15th edition by Brigham & Enhrhardt Chapter 4 Time Value of Money) and its subsequent report is based on the Financial Ratio Analysis (Du Pont Chart Analysis) of a company and its available current financial data. The students are required to evaluate the company based on the trends in its financial ratios over time and evaluate them against the industry standard (a major competitor). Details, including the selection of the company (for time-series evaluation) and its competitor (for cross-section evaluation), will be discussed throughout the semester.

In general, the ratio analysis is done in the following steps: Evaluate the company using the following ratios: Current, Quick, Average Collection Period, Accounts Receivable Turnover, Inventory Turnover, Average Age of Inventory, Inventory to Net Working Capital, Total Asset Turnover, Fixed Asset Turnover, Fixed Charge Coverage, Basic Earning Power, Debt Ratio, Debt to Equity, Long-term Debt to Equity, Times Interest Earned, Total Profit Margin, Operating Profit Margin, Net Profit Margin, Return on Investment, Return on Asset, Return on Equity, Price-Earnings, Market-Value to Book-Value, Cash Flow per Share, Dividend Payout, and Dividend Yield ratios. Evaluate the company using the following accounting measures: Total Net Operating Capital, Net Operating Working Capital, Gross Investment in Operating Capital, Net Operating Profit after Taxes, Free Cash Flow, Operating Cash flow, Return on Invested Capital, Market Value Added and Economic Value Added. Use the ratio values and accounting measures to show performance trends (time-series analysis) of the company (at least for five years). Find industry quartiles for each of the ratio and accounting measures and evaluate the company ratios and accounting measures against the industry norm (a major competitor company) (cross-section analysis). Write the analysis of the company on each of the ratio and accounting measurement areas (both time-series and cross-sectional analyses). Use the web resources available to obtain information on both time-series and cross-section ratios and accounting measures. A series of web addresses that also provide company financial and economic information are given below. www.MergentOnline.com http://www.mergentonline.com http://finance.yahoo.com http://www.reuters.com/finance www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/srch-edgar/ http://www.sec.gov http://www.moneycentral.com http://www.frb.org http://www.bloomberg.com http://www.census.gov/econ/ http://www.stat-usa.gov/ http://ciber.bus.msu.edu/busres.htm http://www.sba.gov http://www.aflcio.org/corporateamerica http://www.startupjournal.com http://www.careers-in-business.com http://www.fma.org http://www.irs.gov http://www.corpgov.net http://www.nysedata.com http://www.nasdaq.com http://www.federalreserve.gov http://stats.bls.gov