1. Introduction
This report provides a financial quarterly trend analysis for Costco Wholesale Corporation, Inc. founded in 1983. Costco Wholesale Corporation is the seventh largest retailer company in the world. As of July 2012, it was the fifth largest retailer, and the largest membership warehouse club chain in the United States ("Wikipedia, the free," 2011). Costco Wholesale Corporation’s stock is publicly traded on the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation (NASDAQ) under the symbol “COST”, which I will use as reference throughout this report.
Costco is a company with an inspiring story. They have revolutionized the shopping experience at its maximum, breaking the rules of grocery shopping experience.
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0.02 | 0.07 | Return on Equity Ratio | 0.03 | 0.04 | 0.03 | 0.03 | 0.12 | Profit Margin Ratio | 0.02 | 0.02 | 0.01 | 0.02 | 0.02 | Basic Earning Power Ratio | 0.04 | 0.03 | 0.02 | 0.02 | 0.09 | Earnings per Share Ratio | 0.37 | 0.54 | 0.36 | 0.44 | 1.72 | | | | | | | Debt Ratios | | | | | | Total Debt Ratio | 0.94 | 0.53 | 0.56 | 0.53 | 0.53 | Interest Coverage Ratio | 20.97 | 21.31 | 20.07 | 32.84 | 22.92 | Debt/Equity Ratio | 1.15 | 1.13 | 1.25 | 1.11 | 1.11 | Loan to Value Ratio | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | | | | | | Market Ratios | | | | | | Earnings per Share (EPS) Ratio | 0.37 | 0.54 | 0.36 | 0.44 | 1.72 | Price to Earnings Ratio | 73.78 | 50.17 | 74.6 | 65.46 | 16.75 | Price to Cash Flow Ratio | 53.96 | 92.59 | 74.37 | 35.54 | 10.6 | Payout Ratio | -0.28 | -0.44 | 0 | -0.27 | -0.27 |
COST Balance Sheet from Market Watch: Assets | | | | | | | | | | | 30-Apr-11 | 31-Aug-11 | 30-Nov-11 | 30-Apr-12 | Cash & Short Term Investments | 6.22B | 5.61B | 5.92B | 5.98B | Cash Only | 4.08B | 4.01B | 4.32B | 4.79B | Short-Term Investments | - | - | - | - | Total Accounts Receivable | 948M | 965M | 982M | 1.02B | Accounts Receivables, Net | - | - | - | - | Accounts Receivables, Gross | - | 3M | - | - | Bad Debt/Doubtful Accounts | - | (3M) | - | - | Other Receivables | 0 | 395M | 0 | 0 | Inventories | 6.4B | 6.64B | 7.62B | 7.04B | Finished Goods | - | - | -
Costco has a simple strategy for being one of the leaders in the wholesales, which is concentrating on driving sales. If the sales of a company are good than everything else will take care of itself. While other companies such as Wal-Mart, Target and BJ’s pour money into marketing; Costco has a no-frills approach and doesn’t advertise. Costco focuses on selling fewer items which increases sale volume and
“Costco continues to prove their “consumer first” business model, through the creation of new and unique business concepts, included Costco Pharmacy (1986) Produce and Bakery (1987), Optical labs (1987), 1-Hour Photo (1989), Hearing Aid Centers
The following report is a brief comparative analysis of two of Australia’s largest deposit-taking financial institutions (FI), Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. (ANZ) and Westpac Banking Corporation (Westpac). This report seeks to identify which of the FIs has a greater aggregate return per dollar of equity and thus establish the highest performer, or most profitable, of the two. The Return on Equity Model (ROE) (Koch & MacDonald,
Is it possible for companies both to maximize financial value and be socially responsible? Explain
Costco is the greatest wholesale mega store in today’s market opening its first store in 1983 in Seattle, Washington. Its mission statement is "Costco 's mission is to continually provide our members with quality goods and services at the lowest possible prices. In order to achieve our mission we will conduct our business with the following Code of Ethics in mind: Obey the law, Take care of our members, Take care of our employees, and Respect our vendors. If we do these four things throughout our organization, then we will realize our ultimate goal, which is to reward our shareholders."
Costco’s Strategy is to sell quality items at low prices and to create a treasure hunt like atmosphere with a set of variable famous brand items available at low prices each week that
Ratio analysis is a very useful tool when it comes to understanding the performance of the company. It highlights the strengths and the weaknesses of the company and pinpoints to the mangers and their subordinates as to which area of the company requires their attention be it prompt or gradual. The return on shareholder’s fund gives an estimate of the amount of profit available to be shared amongst the ordinary shareholders; where as the return on capital employed measures an organization 's profitability and the productivity with which its capital is utilized. Return on total assets is a profitability ratio that measures the net income created by total assets amid a period.
Costco’s strategy was definitely influenced by its customers and its competitor. From a competitor’s standpoint Costco wanted to a provide services, prices, and products that rivaled its competitor Sam’s Club. Costco’s combining of high quality and low prices id the driving for behind Costco’s success. It is evident that Sam Walton, with Wal-Mart and Sam’s club played an integral part in the way the Costco has devised its strategy. Costco’s average pay, for example, is $17 an hour and is 42% higher than its fiercest rival Sam’s Club. Costco’s health plan also makes other retailers look Scroogish, Costco’s workers were only paying just 4 percent toward their health costs and raised it to only 8 percent when Sam’s Club and the retail average is at 25 percent (Bowmer, 2007). “Costco isn’t simply looking to be better that the competition they want
Costco is a membership club, committed to bringing their individuals the best conceivable costs on quality brand-name stock. With several areas around the world, Costco
Costco Wholesale is the second largest retailer in the U.S behind Walmart. Costco is kown for its pricy $55 a-year membership fee, but this doesn’t stop consumers from coming to its massive warehouse of consumer goods. “Costco’s sales have grown 39 percent and its stock price has doubled since 2009” (Stone, 2013, p.1). That is a clear fact that Costco is doing well. This is during a period where other retailers struggled significantly.
It was in the twentieth century that the world was first introduced to a now well-known household name, Costco. In 1976 that the first Costco was opened, formerly known as Price Club, in San Diego. The philosophy of this company is simply stated, “Keep costs down and pass the savings on to our members.” (Costco.com) It has held onto its philosophy of keeping prices low for almost half a century. Costco is self defined as a “membership warehouse club.” (Costco.com) It provides a wide variety of brand name products in their warehouse-style store, and strives to provide all members with the lowest prices that they can offer. Today, Costco is a well known and loved company by consumers.
This paper examines financial ratio analysis by defining, the three groups of stakeholders that use financial ratios, the five different kinds of ratios used and their applications, the analytical tools used in analysis, and finally financial ratio analysis limitations and benefits.
Costco is a wholesale organization that is the second largest retailer in the world. Their mission statement is “To continually provide our members with quality goods and services at the lowest possible prices”, which is strongly understood throughout their organization. Costco’s mission statement shows that their businesses use quality as one of their selling points. Providing quality goods and services allow their members to shop with confidence knowing their purchasing experiences would be worthwhile. The other part of the company’s mission statement involves low prices. This aspect is important because there are many other firms that compete against Costco on the basis of low prices. Because of its high quality goods and services at everyday low prices, this concept becomes attractive to many consumers allowing the business to flourish. The company has taken some blows for having low prices, but in the end, it has benefitted with high inventory turnover leading to a profitable business.
It is important for healthcare organizations to understand their present performance and weak areas in order to generate more effective operational strategies. Financial ratio analysis is an effective tool to determine hospital’s performance on several indicators such as ability to pay debt, capability to generate revenue, and sales performance etc. The objective of this paper is to describe role of different financial ratios in understanding organizational performance and in developing new strategy. The paper also presents comparative ratio analysis of local healthcare organization and industry
Financial results and conditions vary among companies for a number of reasons. One reason for the variation can be traced to the characteristics of the industries in which companies operate. For example, some industries require large investments in property, plant, and equipment (PP&E), while others require very little. In some industries, the competitive productpricing structure permits companies to earn significant profits per sales dollar, while in other industries the product-pricing structure imposes a much lower profit margin. In most low-margin industries, however, companies often experience a relatively high rate of product throughput. A second reason for some of the