The Effectiveness of Managing Corporate Finance - Essay Example

The Effectiveness of Managing Corporate Finance Table of Contents Introduction 4 Background of the study 4 Goal of financial management 4 Overview of Boeing Company 4 Overview of Airbus Group 5 Objective of report 5 Data and Methodology 6 Capital market trend 6 Airbus Group 6 Boeing Company 7 Five year analysis of Earnings per Share (EPS) 8 Leverage for the period of five year 8 Working capital management 9 Cash management 10 Analysis 11 Relationship between Debt to Equity ratio and value of the company 11 Airbus Group 11 Boeing Company 12 Stock price trend 13 Airbus Group 13 Boeing Company 13 Price to earnings (P/E) and Market Capitalization (M.Cap) trend 14 Airbus Group 14 Boeing Company 14 Market capitalization (M.Cap) trend 14 Airbus Group 14 Boeing Company 15 Relationship between working capital management and profitability ratios 15 Airbus Group 15 Boeing Company 16 Relationship between dividend payout ratio and share price 18 Comparison of payout ratio of Airbus Group and Boeing Company 18 Dividend payout ratio and share price 18 Evaluation 18 Conclusion 19 Works Cited 20 Name of the Student: Name of the Professor: Course No.: Date: The Effectiveness of Managing Corporate Finance Introduction Background of the study Corporate finance is referred to the part of finance which deals with the funding sources and the corporations’ capital structure which supervisors take in order to augment or boost the firm’s value to the shareholders. It is also used as a tool as well as analysis which are used to allot financial resources. In a business, each decision made has some financial implication or connotation, and any choice/decision which involves the utilisation of money is termed as a corporate monetary/financial decision (Ehrhardt and Brigham 2). The three basic principles which trigger corporate finance are the dividend, financing, and investment principles, as well as the goal of company value maximisation which form the main part of the corporate financial hypothesis (Sundaram and Andrew 350-363). Goal of financial management Most of the companies are hold by the shareholders and inside the companies are managers, whose primary goal is to increase the wealth of shareholder and also to foster the progress of the share value. Therefore, the objective of company or the financial management is to constantly strive to increase the wealth of shareholder through dynamic and productive efficiency (Alpaslan 41-50). Another goal of financial management is to benefit the society because consumer and employees are part of the society (Ehrhardt and Brigham 10-11). Overview of Boeing Company It is the biggest aerospace company of the world and the top manufacturer of military aircraft and commercial jetliners combined. Boeing Company manufactures and designs rotocraft, missiles, defence and electronic system, satellites, as well as launch advanced information and vehicles and also the communications systems. It is a main service supplier to NASA and also a main contractor for Global Space Station (“About Us”). It offers various commercial and military airline services. Boeing Company offers support service and products to large group of customers in almost 150 countries. It is also one of the leading U.S. exporters and has a tradition of innovation and aerospace leadership. The company expanded their services and product line in order to meet the rising customer needs. Their wide range of abilities include incorporating military platforms warfighter and the defence system through the network –centric processes; creating more efficient, new members of their airplane family; arranging funding solutions for their customers; and creating highly developed technology solutions which reach across various business units. Having it’s headquarter in Chicago, the company employs over 165,000 employees across U.S. and in almost 65 countries. This shows most innovative, talented and diverse employees anywhere (“About Us”). Overview of Airbus Group Airbus Group is the European Global defence and aerospace corporation headquartered in France. It unites the competence of three different market leaders such as Airbus Helicopters, Airbus Defence & Space, and Airbus. Combining the global outreach with the European heritage helps the company to show diversity of their talent as well as technology drives internationalisation, innovation and integration (“What we do”). Most of the Airbus Group’s mounting industrial footprints and order book lies ahead of its European boundaries. The company uphold research centres in India, Russia and China, Singapore, the US, and they also run Repair, Maintenance, and Overhaul centres in five continents. Airbus Group has generated 15,000 fresh high-tech occupations in Europe. 2013 was proved to be an excellent year for the company because of the increased profitability and revenues (“What we do”). Objective of report The main objective of this report is to compare the financial ratios of Airbus Group and Boeing Company by taking into consideration the capital market, financial market and other relevant data. It will help to show their position in the market in terms of their financial position as well as performance. The highlights will be provided on their cash management, risk management as well as management of the working capital. The causes of their fall and rise will also be discussed to give more accurate view of their financial performance. Data and Methodology Capital market trend Airbus Group Figure 1: Stock price trend of Airbus Group for 1 year. (Source: Airbus Group) The current share price of Airbus Group is 59.42, a 17.46% high from previous year’s share price of 50.49. An increasing trend in the share price of Airbus Group has been observed especially from December 2014 (“Airbus Group”). It may be due to the reason that the demand for the share is more than its supply which means that more individuals or companies want to purchase the stock, and this result in the rise of stock price. Figure 2: Stock price trend for 5 years (Source: Airbus Group) The five year stock price chart of Airbus Group shows an increasing trend throughout the period of five years. In 2010, its share price was approx 15.15, which has increased to 24.8 in 2012. Further, a rise has been noticed in 2013 and 2014 with a stock price of 30 and 56.55 and its current stock price is 59.42 (“Airbus Group”). Presently, its share price is recorded at a high of 59.50 and a low of 47.51. A great boost in the stock price of Airbus Group indicates that they can utilise their share price to make deals. Boeing Company Figure 3: Stock price trend for 5 years (Source: Equities) The above chart reveals an increase in the Boeing Company’s stock price throughout the period of five years. Five years ago, i.e. in 2010, its share price was 70.08 which has shown a tremendous increase during these five years and was recorded at 121.79 in 2014. As of now, its stock price is 154.86, which has increased by 0.39% from previous day close. It is also recorded at a high of 155.98. A continuous increase in the share price of Boeing Company indicates good market position of them. Five year analysis of Earnings per Share (EPS) Airbus Group 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 EPS 2.99 1.85 1.46 1.27 0.68 (Source: Author’s Creation) The earnings per share (EPS) of Airbus Group have shown a positive trend over the period of five years i.e. from 2010 to 2014. EPS is also known as the ratio of market prospect which measures the sum of net earnings earned per share outstanding (Zhang 12). It shows the profitability level of the company. In 2010, the earnings per share were 0.68 which has increased to 1.27 in 2011 and 1.46 in 2012. It has been observed that it has further increased to 1.85 in 2013 and has recorded at 2.99 in 2014. Boeing Company 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 EPS 8.05 7.07 5.11 5.34 4.45 (Source: Author’s Creation) The earnings per share (EPS) of Boeing Company have also revealed a positive trend throughout the period of five years. In 2010, it was recorded at 4.45 and increased to 5.34 in 2011. Further, a rise has been noticed in the subsequent years. Due to the continuous rise it has reached to 8.05 in 2014. The constant increase in the earnings per share is one of the reasons which led to the rise in its stock price. Leverage for the period of five year Airbus Group 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 Gearing ratio 0.47 0.26 0.25 0.29 0.24 (Source: Author’s Creation) The leverage for the period of five years is shown by means of gearing ratio and debt to equity ratio. An elevated gearing ratio is not beneficial for the company. It signifies the financial risk towards which the company is subjected (Wagner 102; Glynn and Murphy 411). The gearing ratio of Airbus Group was 0.24 in 2010 which has slightly increased to 0.29 in 2011. Slight decrease or increase in the ratio does not affect the company. However, it has been noticed that the ratio has risen from 0.26 in 2013 to 0.47 in 2015, which will affect the performance of Airbus Group. Boeing Company 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 Gearing ratio 0.48 0.35 0.6 0.67 0.8 (Source: Author’s Creation) The leverage for the period of five years of Boeing Company is also shown via gearing ratio and debt to equity ratio. The gearing ratio has shown a decreasing trend till 2013 which is a good sign for the company but then it rises in 2014. The ratio was 0.8 in 2010 and has decreased to 0.35 in 2013 which indicates that Boeing Company is having conservative system of financial management; however it also indicates that the company is situated in an extremely cyclical industry. However, the gearing ratio of Boeing Company has increased in 2014 and recorded at 0.48 and it is also more than the ratio of Airbus Group for all the years, which signifies that they cannot go too far during the time of downturn in profits and sales. Working capital management Working capital administration/management’s main performance ratios are working capital ratio and liquid ratio. Airbus Group 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 Working Capital Ratio 0.99 0.97 0.93 0.91 0.96 (Source: Author’s Creation) The components of working capital are current liabilities and current assets. The working capital ratio of Airbus Group is not up to the mark as it is less than 1 for all the years. The ratio of 2:1 is regarded as benchmark ratio. It is almost same for all the years. However, it has increased from 0.96 in 2010 to 0.99 in 2014. It indicates that Airbus Group has adequate cash to meet the debt obligations of short term (Baker and Powell 48). Boeing Company 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 Working Capital Ratio 1.2 1.26 1.27 1.21 1.15 (Source: Author’s Creation) The working capital ratio for the year 2010 was 1.15 which has gone up to 1.21 and 1.27 in the year 2011 and 2012 and then it has slightly decreased to 1.26 in 2013. However it again gone down to 1.2 in 2014 which signifies that Boeing Company does not have enough cash flow to meet the operating expenses and debt obligations of short term. Boeing Company’s ratio is more than the ratio of Airbus Group for all the years which means that they are managing their working capital in a good way in comparison to Airbus Group. Airbus Group 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 Liquid ratio 0.45 0.45 0.45 0.43 0.48 (Source: Author’s Creation) The liquid ratio of Airbus Group is almost same for all the years. However, it has decreased from 0.48 in 2010 to 0.45 in 2014. A slight decrease in the ratio signifies that Airbus Group is taking some risk by not keeping a suitable buffer of the liquid resources (Rao 87). Boeing Company 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 Liquid ratio 0.37 0.43 0.43 0.43 0.46 (Source: Author’s Creation) The liquid ratio of Boeing Company has also decreased in 2014 as compared to all the years. Moreover, it is less that the liquid ratio of Airbus Group which indicates that the company will face some difficulty in settling their current liabilities especially on a short notice. Cash management Efficient management of cash of both the companies will be shown by means of inventory turnover ratio and receivable/debtor turnover ratio. Airbus Group 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 Inventory turnover ratio 2.39 2.40 2.43 2.18 2.19 (Source: Author’s Creation) The inventory turnover ratio of Airbus Group was 2.19 in 2010 which has gone up to 2.39 in 2014. It indicates that the company can effectively manage its merchandise as well as cash because their inventory is more liquid than Boeing Company’s inventory (Bose 65). Boeing Company 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 Inventory turnover ratio 1.94 2.02 2.16 2.13 2.64 (Source: Author’s Creation) The inventory turnover ratio of Boeing Company has gone down in 2014 as compared to all the previous years and is also less than Airbus Group’s ratio. It means that Boeing Company will find difficulty in converting their inventory or stock into cash and therefore find trouble in managing their cash. Airbus Group 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 Debtor Turnover Ratio 8.93 8.69 8.32 7.68 6.90 (Source: Author’s Creation) The debtor turnover ratio of Airbus Group shows a positive trend throughout. The ratio was 6.90 in 2010 and has shown a continuous increase and was recorded at 8.93 in 2014. A high ratio signifies that the debtors are liquid and will be collected on time (Ranganatham 293). It also shows that debtors can be converted 8.93 times into cash. Boeing Company 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 Debtor Turnover Ratio 12.21 14.04 15.37 12.71 11.86 (Source: Author’s Creation) The debtor turnover ratio of Boeing Company for all the years is greater than Airbus Group. It has also shown a constant increase from 2010 to 2013. Though, in 2014, the ratio has decreased from 14.04 to 12.21. It means that the debtors are less liquid and could reduce the liquidity of the company. Analysis Relationship between Debt to Equity ratio and value of the company Airbus Group 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 Debt to equity ratio 0.89 0.35 0.34 0.41 0.32 (Source: Author’s Creation) The debt to equity ratio of Airbus Group will help them to compare their total debt with their equity. This ratio is used to indicate the proportion of financing or funding which comes from investors and creditors. Airbus Group does not show any particular trend for its debt to equity ratio. The ratio was 0.32 in 2010 which has increased to 0.41 in 2011 and again decreased to 0.34 in 2012. It is also less that the ratio of Boeing Company for all the years which means that their leverage position is in better situation as compared to Boeing Company. However, it has gone up to a great extent in 2014 and was recorded at 0.89. The great increase in the ratio of Airbus Group shows that the company is more risky to their investors and creditors. Boeing Company 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 Debt to equity ratio 0.92 0.53 1.49 2.05 4.01 (Source: Author’s Creation) The debt to equity ratio of Boeing Company was extremely high in 2010 i.e. 4.01 but somehow they have managed to keep it low in the coming years and it comes at 1.49 in the year 2012. The company has shown a good result in 2013 also by maintaining a ratio of 0.53. However, the ratio again increased to 0.92 in 2014. A high leverage of this company is an indication of not so stable financial position. Stock price trend Airbus Group (Source: Author’s Creation) It shows a positive trend throughout the period of five years. The stock price of Airbus Group has continuously increased from 2010 to 2014 and is recorded at 56.55 in 2014. The augmentation in the stock price of the company signifies that they can make use of their stock price to make acquisitions. Boeing Company (Source: Author’s Creation) The stock price of Boeing Company also shows a positive trend throughout. Its share price was 70.08 in 2010 which has shown an incredible increase and was recorded at 121.79 in 2014. A continuous boost in the stock price of indicates good market position of Boeing Company. Price to earnings (P/E) and Market Capitalization (M.Cap) trend Airbus Group 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 P/E ratio 18.91 16.22 16.99 14.19 22.28 (Source: Author’s Creation) P/E ratio gives an idea about what the market could pay for stock based on the existing earnings. The P/E ratio of Airbus Group does not set any trend for the five years ranging from 2010 to 2014. In 2010 the ratio was 22.28 which has decreased to a great extent in 2011 and recorded at 14.19. However, it has recovered to some degree and was reached at 16.99 in 2012. In the year 2014 also it has risen from previous year which signifies positive upcoming performance as well as the investors will also pay more for the shares of Airbus Group. Boeing Company 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 P/E ratio 15.13 76.93 73.99 71.52 70.08 (Source: Author’s Creation) The P/E ratio of Boeing Company has shown a positive trend from 2010 to 2013, but surprisingly it has gone down to a great extent in the year 2014. The P/E ratio was 70.08 in 2010 and has increased to 76.93 in 2013, but in 2014 it has decreased to 15.13. It is more than Airbus Group for all the years except for 2014. The lower ratio of Boeing Company for the year 2014 indicates the poor future performance of Boeing Company and the investors will also not think about making investment in this company. Market capitalization (M.Cap) trend Airbus Group 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 Market Capitalization (M.Cap) 44335.2 23400 20385.6 14740.36 12332.1 (Source: Author’s Creation) Generally there are three divisions of capitalization i.e. large cap, small cap, and mid cap. The company whose market capitalization comes at $5 billion and above is considered as a large cap firm; between $1 billion - $5 billion considered as a mid cap firm; and the company with a market capitalization of below $1 billion is regarded as a small cap firm. The market capitalization trend of Airbus Group shows that it is regarded as a mid cap company because its market capitalization for all the year were between $1 billion - $5 billion. Boeing Company 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 Market Capitalization (M.Cap) 86105.53 57466.71 55936.44 53282.4 51508.8 (Source: Author’s Creation) The market capitalization symbolizes the total value of stock or a company. The market capitalization of Boeing Company is more than $5 billion in 2010 and it continues for all the years till 2014. Boeing Company’s market capitalization has increased continuously and is regarded as a large cap company. The market cap for 2014 is 86105.53 which mean more than $8 million. It represents a good position of the Boeing Company in the market. Relationship between working capital management and profitability ratios Airbus Group (Source: Author’s Creation) (Source: Author’s Creation) The realtionship between working capital management and profitability ratios of Airbus Group shows that by increasing the current and liquid ratio, Airbus Group can boost its profitability. The figure shown in the Working capital management comes by adding current and liquid ratio and the profitability figure comes by adding operating and net profit ratio. Boeing Company (Source: Author’s Creation) (Source: Author’s Creation) The realtionship between working capital management and profitability ratios of Boeing Company shows that they are managing their capital effectively but in 2014 they were unable to manage it effectively. The effectual managemment of the capital between 2010 to 2013 led to the increase in the profitability ratios. So, there is a positive relationship among management of working capital and profitability ratios. Relationship between dividend payout ratio and share price Comparison of payout ratio of Airbus Group and Boeing Company (Source: Author’s Creation) The payout ratio of Airbus Group is 0.40 which is more than the ratio of Boeing Company i.e. 0.31. A high payout ratio of Airbus Group indicates that they are willing to share more proportion of their earnings with the investors. Dividend payout ratio and share price Airbus Group’s ratio is more than Boeing Company which signifies the good financial position of Airbus Group. This statement is supported by the increased share price of Airbus Group which has shown a continuous increase through the five year period. Boeing Company’s is less than Airbus Group which means the company needs some improvements in its operations. This statement is supported by the share price of Boeing Company which was almost same from 2010 to 2013 but has increased to a great extent in 2014. Evaluation The continuous increase in EPS through the period indicates that Airbus Group is very profitable as well as it has more earnings to allocate to their shareholders. However, it’s EPS for all the years are less than Boeing Company which means that Airbus Group needs more improvement in its operations to beat its competitors. The increase of the gearing ratio of Airbus Group in 2014 indicates great leverage for the company where they are utilising debt in order to pay for their continuing operations. In the time business downturn, Airbus Group may face problem in meeting their schedules of debt repayment and also could risk liquidation of business. The working capital ratio of Boeing Company is greater than Airbus Group which means that Boeing Company is managing its working capital in a good way in comparison to Airbus Group. Airbus Group’s inventory turnover ratio is also more than Boeing for all the years except for 2010 which means that their inventory are more liquid than Boeing Company’s inventory and can easily convert its inventory or stock into cash. The debtor turnover ratio of Boeing Company is more than Airbus Group which means that their debtors are less liquid then Airbus Group. The greater debt to equity ratio of Boeing Company signifies a high leverage of this company and also indicates poor financial position as compared to Airbus Group. Conclusion Corporate finance’ main goal is to increase or maximise the value of shareholder and to increase the value of share price. It has been analysed that Airbus Group has efficiently managed its working capital ratio and liquid ratio. The company has also effectively managed their cash because their inventory is more liquid than Boeing Company’s inventory. The EPS of both the companies has increased continuously but Boeing Company remained capable of maintaining high EPS than Airbus Group. The P/E ratio of Airbus Group has risen relative to previous year which signifies the positive upcoming performance of the company. Therefore, by managing its inventory and earnings effectively, Airbus Group has achieved the goal of financial management by revealing a continuous increase in its share price. 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