Tuesday, May 3, 2011

American Apparel Case Study

After examining American Apparel’s financial statements it was painfully obvious that they had began declining since 2007, however it wasn’t until 2009 where they showed their first major decline. One of the main reasons for their declines is having a higher amount of expenses in their financial statements every year. Although their gross profits also increased over the year of 2009, their expenses increased much more. This is mainly due to them expanding and opening more new shops that do poorly and as a result earns more revenue but have much more expenses. With expenses overweighting the revenue, they started a declining flow. American Apparel also had a CEO who had several lawsuits of sexual assault. Furthermore, there have been many semi pornographic advertisements causing American Apparel to develop a shameful reputation. Just when things couldn’t have gotten any worse, there turned out to be another incident where they discovered that American Apparel hired 1600 illegal workers out of the 4500 workers in Los Angeles. All this resulted in a major crisis of American Apparel’s reputation and creditability.

As explained above, American Apparel is in a major reputation crisis and the only way for them to keep moving on and surviving is to clean up their image. Personally I believe that they should spend half of the $14million on paying off their debts because they had to borrow a huge loan in order to avoid bankruptcy this year. By doing this, they can reduce loan payable or interest expense and also develop a better credit rating. Next they would have to find some way to increase cash flow and I believe that the best way would be not to expand but the opposite. By closing off a few stores, they can decrease expenses greatly and also raise more money. With this additional money I believe that American Apparel should focus on marketing their way to a more ethical image. As for R&D, I believe that this is only an area they should invest in after they restore their reputation.

Friday, April 8, 2011

Sony Ericsson quarterly results lag

Summary:
Sony Ericsson is a mobile phone maker company owned by the Swedish company Ericsson and the Japanese company Sony. This company has recently posted lower than expected profits of 35million euros ($44.7million less than expected), and sales of $1.53billion ($0.29billion less than expected) for the last quarter of 2010. Some say that this was due to the competitive market of the Smartphone industry. Sony Ericsson loss many customers and sales opportunity due to the major success of Apple Inc. and the nimble PC-like handset portfolio of Nokia. Another major issue that Sony Ericsson faced was the lowering of their average selling price and quantity. Their average selling price went down 12% on the third quarter and their shipment of new products lowered 23% on the same period compared to 2009. Due to this disappointing quarter, it is unsure whether or not Sony Ericsson is still ranked the 5th biggest handset maker in the industry.

Connections:
Chapter 5 mainly talks about the importance and roles of cash flow statements towards a company. Cash flow statement is a financial statement that summarizes the cash flows of the company during the accounting period, categorized into operating, financing and investing activities. As shown in this article, Sony Ericsson is recently having troubles keeping up with other companies due to their unexpected low profits. They also had a much higher amount of expenses to pay off this quarter as shown from earning $44.7 million less than expected. With a major decrease in their Operating activities (sales and revenue) and an increase in Financing activities (payables and debts), Sony Ericsson is having a hard time competing with the rest of the companies out there.

Reflection:
Sony Ericsson has always been on top of their game for the last few years. I believe that the main cause of their downfall is the competitive market out there. The main rival for all companies in this market would be Apple. Due to the release of the iPhone 4, Apple has been snatching away many possible customers. I believe that in order for Sony Ericsson to actually recover their sales, it would have to either increase price or quantity. The best way to increase price, quantity or even both would be to invest more in R&D. Sony is well known for its advanced technology; therefore R&D isn’t something that is impossible for Sony Ericsson to accomplish. Sony Ericsson has a chance to compete against the popular iPhone 4, only by releasing new and better products. Sony Ericsson is more alarmed now due to this disheartened quarter, and therefore I believe that they would have a higher sense of urgency to improve their products and will eventually improve R&D.

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/103021/20110120/sony-ericsson-quarterly-results-lag.htm

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Apple posts better-than-expected quarterly results

Summary:
On Tuesday Jan 18th, Apple Inc. reported sales and profits that exceeded their analyst’s expectations. Apple’s previous quarter ended up with revenue of $26.74 billion U.S. (increase of 71% from the same period a year earlier) and net income of $6 billion (increase of 78%). During this quarter, Apple sold 16.24 million units of iPhones (jump of 86% year-on-year) and 4.13 million units of Macs (jump of 23%). Once again exceeding analyst’s expectations, Apple also sold 7.33 million iPad tablets. On the other hand, the sales of iPod media players dropped to 19.45 million units (7% decline). Overall all the positive results helped to partially offset the news of Apple’s chief executive officer taking another medical leave of absence.

Connections:
As mentioned in the textbook, it is important for all users to have a good understanding of how well a company is doing in order to make vital decisions. This article is a reflection of Apple’s success during their last quarter which provides the company users (internal users) with many opportunities to expand. Not only does Apple have much more net income to spend on improvements during the next quarter, but they have also developed a good credit rating on their financial statements. External users such as investors and bank for loans would take a look at Apple’s financial statements to decide whether to invest in Apple or lend Apple money. Due to both external and internal users basing their major decisions on a business’s financial statements, it is safe to assume that this article is related to user relevance.

Reflection:
Apple’s outstanding performance last quarter has given them many opportunities in the future. I believe that this increase in net income will allow Apple to furthermore expand and increase sales throughout the next quarter. Even after exceeding sales of the iPhone 4 during Apple’s last quarter, there is still an incredible amount of demand for this particular item. Not to mention that there are many customers who are eager to buy the white iPhone 4 which is rumored to be released on February 27th. I also believe that releasing the white iPhone 4 a quarter later is a very tactical and smart move played by Apple that allows them to keep the demand high. Whether this is sneaky or smart, it seems unlikely that Apple is only going to fall anytime soon.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/business/2011-01/19/c_13696750.htm
http://www.gforgames.com/gadgets/news-gadgets/leak-white-iphone-4-release-date-february-27th-3530/

Sunday, November 7, 2010

WestJet To Start Paying Dividends; 3Q Profit Up 72%

Summary:
WestJet Airlines acquired a rise in profit of 72% from $31.4 million to $54 million by the end of their third quarter. As a result of their success, WestJet has decided that it would begin paying dividends. The company also announced that they would buy back up to 7.26 million or 5% of their stock shares over the next year. After hearing this news, investors sent the WestJet shares up more than 4% on Wednesday. Another result of their success is an increase in revenue of 14% to $684.6 million. WestJet decided to begin charging a $20 fee for guest checking a second bag starting on or after January 19th, and also dropping the fee for third and fourth bags to $50 from $75 in hopes to increase revenue.


Connection:

This chapter consists of financial statements and dividends which are both mentioned in this article. Financial statements are important in a company because it gives both the business managers and investors (insiders and outsiders) an understanding of how well the company is doing, which ultimately affects decision making. One obvious example used in this article is profit margin ratio. It clearly states that the company has been doing significantly well which not only enables many opportunities for the company, but also attract many investors. As mentioned in the textbook, dividends aren’t recorded on the income statements. However, this dividends declared would affect retained earnings and therefore WestJet would be losing some of their earnings but at the same times pleasing their investors.

Reflection:
I believe that WestJet is going to become even more successful throughout the next quarter due to the amount of revenue they earned this quarter. If this money is invested correctly then they would have a huge opportunity to earn an even greater sum of money. By buying back 7.26 million of their shares, they would not have to pay more dividends and therefore increasing their profit. They can also sell these shares in the future for a higher price and therefore earning an even larger profit if their company does well. In short, WestJet is investing in itself and I believe that this is a really strategic and risky move that would lead to either their downfall or success.

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20101103-714320.html

Friday, October 15, 2010

Deal of the day: Chinese miner buys Canadian copper explorer

Summary:
China’s largest producer of nickel and cobalt, Jinchuan agreed to buy a Canadian metals explorer. It is therefore obvious that Chinese companies are expanding significantly with their new government’s “going out” policy which encourages companies to push overseas. Jinchuan already owns 14% of Continental Minerals (listed in TSX) and they will now pay $417million for an additional 13% premium. Continental is currently exploring a large copper-gold property in Xietongmen and has discovered two deposits that will help diversify Jinchuan. Jinchuan also bought Crowflight Minerals (another Canadian company) in April for $140million.Unlike Continental, Crowflight’s mining activities are in Canada itself. Additional to that another Chinese company, Shinochem may also be preparing a massive bid for PotashCorp. In total, Chinese companies have purchased 17 North American companies during the past year.

Connections:
This article is connected to chapter 1 in many ways. One main connection is the business activities used by these Chinese companies. Jinchuan buying large North American companies is one perfect example of investing activities. Investing activities require a company to obtain funds and Jinchuan most likely got their funds out of the Chinese government or a loan. Most companies make both long and short term investments and in this case, Jinchuan made a long term investment. Purchasing another company is part of investing activities, because it requires Jinchuan to purchase shares off another company, which as a result directly affect’s Jinchuan’s equity depending on how well or bad that company does.

Reflections:
Being a large country with a large population, China has many opportunities for expansion. It is evident that China is expanding and catching up to North America economically after reading this article. Chinese companies buying Canadian companies may be both good and bad for Canada’s economy. This would be advantageous in a short term because Canada would be developing good relationship with China which creates more international business opportunities for Canada in the future. On the other hand, this might also be disadvantageous in the long run for Canada. If Canadian companies such as Crowflight end up doing really well, ultimately china would profit from this more than Canada would. Therefore I believe that it would be more beneficial for large Canadian companies such as PotashCorp to stay as a large Canadian company and not another countries company.

http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2010/09/20/deal-of-the-day-chinese-miner-buys-canadian-copper-explorer/

Monday, May 3, 2010

Obama gives green jobs speech at Siemens Energy wind turbine plant in Iowa

Summary:
President Obama went to visit a Siemens Energy plant in Fort Madison, Iowa. This company makes blades for wind turbines and is an eco-friendly Company that received about $3.5 million in tax credits through the 2009 Recovery act stimulus. The reason the president went to Fort Madison is to give a speech stating that he is planning on “staking America’s future on a clean energy future.” President Obama continues his speech and expresses how impressed he is by how the plant has developed since the past few years. He is furthermore impressed by the amount of jobs this plant has offered this high unemployment city, with more than 600 employees. The President also stated that Siemens will be a foundation that would lead to a long term growth and prosperity. It is obvious that the president has high hopes for this company and plans to decrease the amount of greenhouse gas emitted from the States.


Connection:

With the goal of “staking America’s future on a clean energy future,” it is obvious that there will be large cost involved to begin the operations necessary for this goal. This would definitely mean there are more jobs to offer for people in the states. This is always a good thing right after the recession, because it will help the recovery of the economy and provide more jobs for many people who lost their jobs during the recession. Due to the increase in numbers of jobs this will stimulate the economy, and also provide a more positive outlook on the States with the reduced amounts of greenhouse gas.

Reflection:
I believe that not only me but many other people think that this is a great direction the States is taking to reduce greenhouse gas. By putting his attention on Siemens Energy plant, the president has truly shown people that he is serious to a more clean energy future. In my opinion I believe that this is a smart move because, the president will not only have gain the respect of the environment friendly people of America, but also strengthened or gave birth to a new market for future companies to look at. As I have stated above, I believe that a clean energy future would cost money and therefore provide many more jobs.

http://theenergycollective.com/TheEnergyCollective/64301

Monday, April 12, 2010

Chapter 15- Northgate Minerals enjoys successful fourth quarter

Summary:
Northgate Minerals has earned revenue of $41.5 million with a net income of $27.9 million during the fourth quarter. This company also produced 80,753 ounces of gold and 11.8 million pounds of copper with an average cost of $537 per ounce of gold. They then sold 78,015 ounces of gold for $1,181 per ounce and 10.4 million pounds of copper for $3.54 per pound. In total, Northgate has earned revenue of $186.2 million and a net income of $73.2 million during year 2009. They produced a record of 362,398 ounces of gold during this year. As for the expenses, the average cost of the whole year was $477 per ounce. By the end of the year, Northgate had a cash balance of $235.5 million. They then extended the mine life Kerness South by one year and allowed $2.6million for the exploration at the Young Davidson mine. This budget goes towards funding the extensive drillings required for the exploration at this new mine. Young Davidson is said to have a 15 year mine life and is able to provide Northgate with 180,000 ounces of gold per year which is around revenue of $1.2billion. This mine is expected to start running in 2012.

Connections:
Ratios are used in chapter 15.3 which could be used for this company too. The ratio that relates to this chapter is rate of return on net sales. It is shown on the textbook that rate of return on net sales is equal to net income divided by net sales times 100. This would make Northgate’s rate of return on net sales 67.2% for the fourth period and 39.3% for the whole year. The textbook also mentioned that comparing this figure with other years gives an indication of how well a company is performing. Although the fourth period is still part of the whole year, it is obvious that Northgate has done better than any other quarter during the fourth quarter with a high rate of return on net sales of 67.2%.


Reflection:

Over the past year, I have seen many companies that did bad during the recession in my Money Management class. Just last week, when everyone did a accounting presentation companies, it is obvious that most of them were barely surviving. Therefore I am positive that Northgate has been a really successful company over the past years and it is a promising stock to invest in. However I believe that this company will struggle a little for the next half year due to the construction of the Young Davidson mine. This mine has excellent growth potential and could end up making this company a lot of money. However they would need to borrow loans and accumulate a lot more expenses in order to get this mine set up. Therefore I think it would not be wise to invest in this company yet until the Young Davidson mine is up and running.

http://www.northernnews.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2504816