Fnancial analysis. Accenture, Wal-Mart, and McDonalds Essay

Fnancial analysis. Accenture, Wal-Mart, and McDonalds - Essay Example McDonald’s is the largest fast food restaurant in the world. The company has over 32,000 stores worldwide. The global sales of McDonald’s in 2011 were $27 billion. The use of aggressive advertising strategies has helped McDonald’s gain popularity, increase its customer base, and achieve superior customer retention. Section two The annual reports of Accenture, Wal-Mart, and McDonald’s were downloaded for review. Each annual report provided information regarding the financial statements of the companies. All three companies demonstrated having strong cash reserves. The firm with the largest cash account was Wal-Mart with $7.40 billion. Accenture ranked second between the three companies at $5.7 billion, while McDonald’s had the weakest cash position at $2.34 billion. The current ratio was chosen as the metric to measure the company’s ability to pay off its short term debt using current assets. All three companies are in good position to pay off their current debt due to the fact that all three companies had a current ratio above the 1.0 threshold. Wal-Mart utilized the most cash on investing activities out of the three firms at $12.19 billion. The firm that had the lowest amount of cash spend in investing activities was Accenture with $0.7 billion. The amount of cash spend in investing activities by McDonald’s was $2.57 billion. The firm with the highest change in non-current assets during fiscal year 2011 was Wal-Mart with $5.55 billion. ... The amount of cash spend in investing activities by McDonald’s was $2.57 billion. The firm with the highest change in non-current assets during fiscal year 2011 was Wal-Mart with $5.55 billion. The change in non-current assets of Accenture and McDonald’s were $0.99 billion and $24 million respectively. Section five Net income 2009 2010 2011 Accenture $1.59 billion $1.78 billion $2.28 billion McDonald’s $4.55 billion $4.95 billion $5.5 billion Wal-Mart $13.38 billion $14.37 billion $16.39 billion Cash flow from operating activities 2009 2010 2011 Accenture $3.16 billion $3.09 billion $3.44 billion McDonald’s $5.75 billion $6.34 billion $7.15 billion Wal-Mart $23.64 billion $26.25 billion $23.64 billion From 2009 to 2011 Accenture, McDonald’s and Wal-Mart all enjoyed increases in net income. The income of Accenture went up by 43.39% in comparison with 2009 and it rose by 28.08% in comparison with 2010. In 2011 McDonald’s enjoyed a net income in crease of 11.11% in comparison with the previous year. Wal-Mart had a net income increase of 14.05% between 2010 and 2011. The retail giant enjoyed the greatest net income increase at $2.02 billion. The only company that enjoyed consecutive increases in cash from operating activities during the period between 2009 and 2011 was McDonald’s. Section six Based on the financial analysis performed on the three companies in this paper I am going to choose the company that is the best investment alternative for investors looking to make some money. Wal-Mart Corporation was the company with the highest amount of cash reserves and it was also the firm with the highest current ratio. Wal-Mart has the greatest liquidity of the three firms. Wal-Mart