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Sears holding financial statements analysis
Financial case study of sears
Financial case study of sears
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Sears Holdings Corporation is a firm with a rich history. Prior to being the Sears Holding Corporation, which came to be due an acquisition by Kmart in 2005, the Sears brand can be traced back to 1886 where it was originally a mail ordering catalog. The first Sears store was opened in 1925. In recent years big box retail has suffered in growth a revenue due to new competitors into the market, ecommerce, and globalization.
With so many options, accessibility, and knowledge it has become a challenge for large retail chains to maintain and grow in this modern era. Since the formation of the Sears Holding Corporation the firm as struggled to remain afloat. As the cost of capital continues to increase the executive decisions have become even more
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What this means is that the market is expecting this firm to not continue business operations in the near future. E-commerce has reshaped the retail landscape. Large chain retailer have to adjust to the changes in the industry quickly or they will face an ill fate such as bankruptcy or quite simply going out of business.
Over the past 5 years Sears Revenue, net profit, cash flow, and more have seen great declines. According to The Wall Street Journal Sears has lost 8.2 billion dollars since 2011. Revenue has fallen nearly 40% (KAPNER, 2017). In order meet the working capital needs required to continue business Sears Holdings has been selling assets, restructuring debt, and closing non profitable locations. Although this strategy may keep the firm afloat in the short run it is not viable in the long run. Like everything else in the world, assets are limited.
Currently Sears Holdings is considering selling off 2 of its brands, Kenmore and Diehard, as well as some of its service businesses. Recently, Sears sold its Craftsman brand, which they owned since 1923, for 900 million dollars (KAPNER, 2017). The firm received over 525 at the deals close from buyer Stanley Black & Decker, and appliance and power tool’s
Sales growth after 2000 were only 9%, which the average annual sale growth rates range from 10% to 30% in their industry. The lack of cash is explained by the current liquidity ratio
Levy, Michael, Barton A. Weitz, and Dhruv Grewal. Retailing Management. ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education, 2014. Print.
Analyzing Wal-Mart's annual report provides a positive outlook on Wal-Mart's financial health. Given the specific ratios and its comparison to other companies in the same industry, Wal-Mart is leading and more than likely continue its dominance. Though Wal-Mart did not lead in all numbers, its leadership and strong presence of the market cements the ongoing success. The review of the current ratio, quick ratio, inventory turnover ratio, debt ratio, net profit margin ratio, ROI, ROE, and P/E ratio all indicate an upbeat future for the company. The current ratio, which is defined as current assets divided by current liabilities, is a measure of how much liabilities a company has compared to its assets. Wal-Mart in the year of 2007 had a current ratio of .90, and as of January 2008 it had a current ratio of .81. The quick ratio, which is defined as current assets minus inventory divided by current liabilities, is a measure of a company's ability pay short term obligations. Wal-Mart in the year of 2007 had a quick ratio of .25, and as of January 2008 it had a ratio of .21. Both the current ratio and quick ratio are a measure of liquidity. Wal-Mart is not as liquid as its competitors such as Costco or Family Dollar Stores Inc. I believe the reason why Wal-Mart is not too liquid is because they are heavily investing their profits for expansion and growth. Management claims in their financial report that holding their liquid reserves in other currencies have helped Wal-Mart hedge against inflationary pressures of the US dollar. The next ratio to look at is the inventory ratio which is defined as the cost of sales divided by average inventory. In the year of 2007, Wal-Mart’s inventory ratio was 7.68, and as of January 2008 it was 7.96. Wal-Mart has a lot of sales therefore it doesn’t have too much a problem of holding too much inventory. Its competitors have similar ratios though they don’t have as much sales as Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart’s ability to sell at lower prices for same quality, gives them the edge against its competition. As of the year 2007, Wal-Mart had a debt ratio of .58, and as of January 2008, it had a debt ratio of .59. The debt ratio is calculated by dividing the total debt by its total assets. Wal-Mart has a lot more assets than it does debt so Wal-Mart is not overleveraged.
The key issues for K-Mart strategies are finding the right cost level for an opportunity to be aggressive, and differentiating the product for consumer in terms of different consumer and different intangible product attributes. K-Mart and Sears should be combined with a new overall corporate competitive strategy using a cost focus. This may turn out to be the only sensible strategy, and the one which best describes the strategy adopted. Strategies of cost leadership and product differentiation are often described as if they were mutually exclusive you can either pursue one or the other, but not both.
Sears has gotten a good start on their Internet venture. They do have a lot of competition in this regard and a “new” business does take a while to get off the ground. Therefore it’s not surprising that they have had a slow start but they are beginning to pick up with the alliances and partnerships that they have entered into to boost their exposure. Their e-commerce trade could become as big as their chain of retail stores. All-in all, I believe that Sears is on the right road to recovery.
During fiscal 1997, Sears drew much of its operation (55% of its total sales) in selling credit cards through its own brand, creating a financial business that accounted for 48% of its operating revenues in the same year .
Kmart is a huge vintage company that had peeked at one time and now is
Teagan Garrison Ms. Stark Comp 2 (04-18-24) The Puritan Influence in the Salem Witch Trials The Salem witch trials are a well known event in history and have been studied for centuries. The series of investigations and prosecutions caused many convicted “witches” to be imprisoned and 19 to be hanged. Many of these accusations of witchery were supported by the Puritan religion as the town of Salem was a Puritan community and their religious beliefs helped add to making them believe in witchcraft.
Some core competencies that must be exploited are: Brand Kmart is an existing well-known and trusted national brand in USA Kmart has private label and designer clothing that is well endorsed Infrastructure Kmart has a large number of well-located, low-cost, leased stores in urban far away from competitors through out the country ( Appendix B ). Staffing Confidence by the market in Kmart is created by the achievements of its staff and management. With the turn-around strategy in place, new blood has been put into the top management structures. In any renewal there will be retrenchment as unprofitable stores are closed. This can be used as an opportunity to retain and move high performing staff to where they are needed and to get rid of non-performing staff. Anderson the chairperson of Kmart is well supported by Wall Street and the board of Directors. These new staff members enter the company with needed skills to address problems in certain areas that previously were poorly managed such as inventory control and merchandising. Store locations, layout and Performance Stores conveniently located away from competitors like Wal-mart and Target therefore less to compete for customers face-to-face. There are 250 non-performing stores who have already been identified as being more cost effective to close than continue with running costs. Expertise exists in-house for the planning of store layout and appearance to meet different customer segments. This concentration of effort will enable focus on key areas Technology Kmart has already invested in good retailing systems. The system can be use to control inventory, supplier payments, track customer buying and monitor income versus profit margins across all stores. Research and Development The planning department is well established and in cross-functional to provide various perspective. The planning department to ensure that strategies at all levels are executed can further use the access to past data and knowledge of changes in buying patterns. Financial Backing JP Morgan Chase has agreed to support Kmart to avert the current threat of closure due to bankruptcy.
On January 22, 2002, Kmart filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection becoming the largest retailer ever to do so in U.S. history. Most industry analysts attributed the immediate cause of the company's bankruptcy filing to a dull holiday season and stiff competition from WalMart and Target as the chain's more fundamental problem. But competition wasn't the root cause of Kmart's consistently poor performance. The real reason for Kmart's poor performance is that Kmart never had a marketing strategy. Kmart completely misunderstood its market and was positioning itself in the wrong direction.
By the 1980s, just before the rise of Wal-Mart, Kmart had become complacent. It believed it would be the king of discount retailing, now and forever. It didn't perform an accurate SWOT analysis, but to be fair, who could have seen the rise of Wal-Mart to the position of the world's number-one retailer? Still, as Wal-Mart built new stores in town after town, supported by cutthroat pricing and solid logistics, Kmart's complacency would cost them. Part of the problem was that as Wal-Mart was pouring money into information technology (IT), Kmart's IT budget continued to shrink – not just once, but several years in a row. While Wal-Mart's logistics and supply chain management got sharper, Kmart's stagnated. And while Wal-Mart was able to squeeze more value out of its stores and its systems, Kmart lost ground. By the time Kmart had finally decided to start devoting more resources to IT, it was so far behind Wal-Mart that catching up would have been a near-impossible task without the recession in the early part of this decade. With the effects of the recession taken into account, Kmart instead was consigned to also-ran status among discount retailers.
Tractors: From Then to Now “The farm implement industry has profoundly shaped both American agriculture and the national economy. Of all farm implements, the tractor has had the greatest impact on rural life” (Robert C. Williams, qtd. in Olmstead). To understand the history of the John Deere company, one must know its origin, development, and its impact on the farming community.
Rondo's Inventory Ratio declined to 9.5 in 2005, down from a ratio of 10 in 2003 and 2004. Rondo's sales improved year-over-year and the decline in inventory turns may be the result of carrying more inventory in response to increased sales. However, Rondo is still carrying too much inventory or the company may have excess obsolete inventory. Rondo needs to utilize just-in-time methods to improve inventory turn over. (Nice catch.) Carrying fewer inventories is required to improve efficiency and reduce cost. Rondo's performance is poor in this area.
Over the last several years, Sears has continued to watch its stores decline towards the brink of death. Since 2012, Sears has lost more than $9
President Donald J. Trump’s inauguration heralded a new age for businesses in the United States, and allowed many such businesses to find profitability and to compete in the international market again for the first time since George W. Bush left office. However, for some businesses, such as Toys R Us, the pro-business change came too late. Years of poor store performance, combined with a refusal to modernize and stiff competition from Amazon, Wal-Mart, and Target have made it impossible for Toys R Us to continue to operate as they once did. In hopes of staving off disaster and insolvency, Toys R US has made the decision to close 20% of its stores. As Toys R Us operates around 900 stores in the United States, that means shutting down a whopping 180 stores.