Files to Download

Download the quarterly reports for Caterpillar Inc. by completing the following:
Go to the Investor Information (Links to an external site.) web page on the Caterpillar, Inc. website.
Click the Quarterly Financial Results link under the Investors header at the very bottom of the page.
Download both the Caterpillar Inc. Results file and the Cat Financial Results file for the appropriate quarter. Use the information below to determine the specific quarter for which you should download:
If this courses start date is in January through February, download last years Quarter 1 financial statements (e.g., 1Q18 Caterpillar Inc. Results and 1Q18 Cat Financial Results).
If this courses start date is in March through June, download last years Quarter 2 financial statements (e.g., 2Q18 Caterpillar Inc. Results and 2Q18 Cat Financial Results).
If this courses start date is in July September, download last years Quarter 3 financial statements. (e.g., 3Q18 Caterpillar Inc. Results and 4Q18 Cat Financial Results).
If this courses start date is in October December, download last years Quarter 4 financial statements (e.g., 4Q18 Caterpillar Inc. Results and 4Q18 Cat Financial Results).
Download the annual reports for Caterpillar Inc. by completing the following:
Go to the Investor Information (Links to an external site.) web page on the Caterpillar, Inc. website.
Click the Annual Report & Sustainability Report link under the Investors header at the very bottom of the page.
Click View Archived Annual Reports under the Annual Report header at the bottom of the page.
Download the annual report from two years ago (e.g., 2016 Year in Review).
Note: You should still have the reports for Deere & Company from the files you downloaded in Week 1.

One critical component of financial analysis involves comparing a firms financial statements with other firms in the industry. Through such a comparison, financial managers can reveal useful information about risks, investment opportunities, market indicators, and economic factors.

Throughout this course, you have been researching and analyzing various financial statements for Deere & Company. For this Final Paper, you will culminate your analysis with an in-depth comparison of Deere & Company and Caterpillar Inc.

In your project, you will complete the following items based on the files you downloaded above:

Examine the four primary financial statements for each firm and address the following:
Statement of Cash Flows:
Compare the statement of cash flows for the two firms, noting the major inflows and outflows of cash.
Income Statement:
Compare the income statements for the two firms, noting the issues each one faces regarding sales projections.
Balance Sheet:
Compare the balance sheets for the two firms, noting any issues each firm may want to address regarding liability, and how each firm might be impacted by increasing interest rates.
Shareholder Equity:
Calculate the shareholder equity for each firm.
Calculate the following ratios and trend analyses on each company:
ROI analysis
Ratio analysis, to include the following ratios:
Profit Margin
Return on Assets
Return on equity
Receivable Turnover
Average Collection period
Inventory turnover
Current ratio
Working Capital
Debt to total assets
Debt to equity
Earnings per share
Price to Earnings ratio
Horizontal, vertical, and trend analysis of financial statements
Compare and contrast the two firms in the context of the global economy, noting which types of cultural differences might impact each firm as it does business in other countries.
Include examples to illustrate your point.
Compare and contrast each firms global strategic plan based on the information in the annual report from two years ago.
Propose which company would be better to invest in, based on the above comparisons. Your proposal should include the key metrics you used to make your decision.
The Final Project

Must be eight to 10 double-spaced pages in length (not including title and references pages) and formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Centers APA Style (Links to an external site.) resource.
Must include a separate title page with the following:
Title of project
Students name
Course name and number
Instructors name
Date submitted
For further assistance with the formatting and the title page, refer to APA Formatting for Word 2013 (Links to an external site.).
Must utilize academic voice. See the Academic Voice (Links to an external site.) resource for additional guidance.
Must include an introduction and conclusion paragraph. Your introduction paragraph needs to end with a clear thesis statement that indicates the purpose of your paper.
For assistance on writing Introductions & Conclusions (Links to an external site.) as well as Writing a Thesis Statement (Links to an external site.), refer to the Ashford Writing Center resources.
Must cite and provide reference entries for the required Deere & Company and the Caterpillar Inc. financial documents in addition to the course text.
Must document any information used from sources in APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Centers Citing Within Your Paper (Links to an external site.) guide.
Must include a separate references page that is formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. See the Formatting Your References List (Links to an external site.) resource in the Ashford Writing Center for specifications.