Part One: Spreadsheet

For this assignment you will select to work on EITHER Polaris or Arctic Cat. Depending on which you choose, access the firm’s financial statements for fiscal years ending after December 31, 2014, from the firm’s website (Polaris.com & Arcticcat.com) or the SEC database (www.sec.gov). Use the most current 10K statements available on SEC or annual statements in Yahoo Finance. Complete the following for your chosen firm (Polaris or Artic Cat) in an Excel spreadsheet:

1. Horizontal and vertical analysis of the income statements for the past two years (all yearly balances set as a percentage of total revenues for that year) for both firms.
2. Horizontal and vertical analysis of the balance sheets for the past two years (all yearly balances set as a percentage of total assets for that year) for both firms.
3. Ratio analysis (eight ratios of your choosing) for the past two years PLUS a measurement for the creditworthiness of both firms as measured by Altman’s Z-score.

Review both videos: Performing Vertical Analysis using Excel and Performing Horizontal Analysis using Excel, which demonstrate the completion of vertical and horizontal analysis using Excel. If you would like some additional guidance on the spreadsheet requirement of the portfolio project, please watch the video. Note that the video does not discuss adding the 8 required ratios to your spreadsheet; however, you are required to submit your company ratios on this spreadsheet as well as the vertical/horizontal analysis.

Part Two: Paper/Essay

With the company that was chosen in part one, your paper must:

• Be 4-6 pages in length.
• Include a proper introduction and conclusion.
• Include a reference page.
• Provide a comparative analysis of the financial health of both firms. Your paper should provide your reader with an overall understanding of the financial health of the companies including the following:

• • Discussion of the ratio analysis results, including rationale for the ratios chosen.
  • Discussion of all horizontal and vertical analysis from above.
  • Discussion of four items from the management discussion of the firm that support the conclusion formed in your discussion of the financial results.

Finally, read through the Portfolio Project Part Two Grading Rubric in the Module 8 folder that will be used to grade your assignment—you will get a feeling for expectations by doing so. Your instructor is here to help you through this project. If you have questions, please let your instructor know. He or she may be willing to take a quick look at your horizontal and vertical analysis to give you feedback in advance since you will not have had much experience on that calculation prior to the project. Always communicate right away with your instructor when you need assistance!