MGMT 3201 Winter 2021

The annual financial statements for IBM and 3M are attached for the last five years. (Note: you will need to format some of the sheets yourself.  Also, do not be concerned that the companies have a different year end date.)  Prepare a ratio analysis, and based on your ratio analysis, provide an explanation of which company you believe performed better over the time period covered by the financial statements.  Note that the sheets are actual data downloaded from Bloomberg.  Some of the minor accounting terms you may not be familiar with.  Do the best that you can with the data.  All of the important terms you should be familiar with.

Look up the stock price for both IBM and 3M. (This as well is readily available on a wide variety of internet sites.)  Look at the closing stock price from January 19, 2019; January 19, 2020; and January 19, 2021.  Briefly comment on how well the stocks have performed over the period prior to COVID, and since COVID.

Look up a story from the newspaper in the coming week that comments on the stock market in Canada. Provide your own comment and analysis on the story that the newspaper article refers to.  The article could be commenting on the stock market performance of a specific stock, or it could be talking about how investors are reacting to the market as a whole.  Basically, any news story about the financial markets that interests you will be sufficient.