FIN 4610 Advanced Corporate Finance
Class Project
As a member of the elite team of management consultants, you are invited by the Board of Governors toreviewandadviseon the financial management practices of CVS Health Corp (CVS).
Part I: Review.Part I of the project report should include, but not limited to:
a.A brief overview of the company’s business and profitability.Reading through one of the company’s quarterly or annual reports will help tremendously on understanding the company and the rest of the project.
b.You are given the basic financial data from the company’s filings for the past few years.You are free to collect additional data that you think may help your analysis, for example, CVS’s equity trading data (price, volume, beta, etc), debt rating data, etc.You should use Excel to store and process your data.Please avoid including entire spreadsheets in the project report.Exhibits in the project report should be tables, charts, or graphs that illustrate specific points.The Excel file you use should be submitted as an attachment separately from the project report.
c.Review the company’s capital structure (leverage), calculating appropriate ratios, tracking changes through the year, tax savings from interest (if any), indications of potential financial distress (if any), etc.
d.Review the company’s retain/payout, dividend/repurchase practices.
e.Review the company’s short-term financial management practice, including, but not limited to, firm’s operating and cash cycle, accounting liquidity, short-term borrowings, and short-term investments in marketable securities.
Part II: Comparables, Special topic, Final Evaluation and Recommendation.Part II of the project report should include, but not limited to:
a.You are given the data ofonecomparable company to analyze. Matching on sales and within Dow Jones Industry Classification of Pharmacies/Drug Stores, we chose Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc.(WBA).
b.Chooseat least oneaspect from 1) capital structure, 2) payout/dividend policy, 3) short-term financial management on which to compare the company of interest and its comparables.
c.ChooseONEfrom the following topics of corporate finance on which to review the practice of the company of interest: 1) International operations, 2) Enterprise risk management, 3) use of Options, 4) past and potential Mergers and Acquisitions, 5) Leasing.
d.Please make sure to include any assumptions you made in your analysis.
e.Your report should explain your findings and recommendations to the Board.In the concluding section you should give your evaluations (seals of approval) or recommendations separately on each aspect of financial management that you analyze.