Analyze Amazon.com
Use Excel and financial statement analysis to determine the profitability of an e-commerce company and the viability of its business model. Submit any simplified spreadsheets you created of the company's balance sheet and income statements.
Publicly traded companies, including those specializing in e-commerce, are required to file financial data with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). By analyzing this information, you can determine the profitability of an e-commerce company and the viability of its business model.
Study Amazon's web page that describe the company and explain its purpose and structure. Use the Web to find articles that comment on the company. Then visit the SEC Web site www.sec.gov and select Filings and Forms to access the company's 10-K (annual report) form showing income statements and balance sheets. Select only the sections of the 10-K form containing the desired portions of financial statements that you need to examine, and download them into your spreadsheet. Create simplified spreadsheets of the company's balance sheets and income statements for the past three years.
1) Is Amazon a success, borderline business, or failure? What information forms the basis of your decision? Why? When answering these questions, pay special attention to the company's three-year trends in revenues, cost of sales, gross margins, operating expenses, and net margins.