FIN 320 ExcelThis is the first of two Excel assignments you will complete in this course. Before you get started, be sure to watch the Mergent Online video (written instructions can be found here).For

Fin ancial information for publicly traded companies is available to the public and can be found on a domestic company’s 10 -K Annual Report on the company’s investor relations page (e.g. , Apple Financial Information ) or the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) site under Filings & Forms and on many other financial sites including Yahoo! Finance. Mergent Online is a f inancial industry tool available to SNHU students for free . View this video demonstration . To Find a Publicly Traded Company  Log in to Blackboard , select the Online Student Services tab at the top of the page, and under Academic Support , select the Shapiro Library link .  Select the A-Z Database List link , and in the Search for Databases field, enter Mergent Online , click on GO , and then click on Mergent Online in the results.  This is the direct link : http://www.mergentonline.com.ezproxy.snhu.edu/basicsearch.php  Enter a company name in the Company Search - Enter symbol or Company Name field in the first section (top, left) and wait one moment for a drop -down menu to appear .  If it is a publicly traded company (meaning its stock trades on an exchange where you can buy and sell shares ), it will appear in the list below and you will see the company stock ticker symbol and name .  Click on the company name in the list for details , and confirm that this is the company you intended to search for by reading the Business Summary .  Review the information in the blue box at the top of the page and make note of the company’s assigned Sector and Industry . To Find Historical Stock Prices  Click on the Equity Pricing tab .  The Time Period defaults to 3 years.  Click on Report above the Controls box.  Once you see the Historical Pricing , choose Download near the top right of the screen.  Save the Excel file to your compute r.  Use the Close p rice to calculate the percent increase or decrease in the stock price over the seven weekday or three -year period (“rate of return” in rubric) .  For example, Apple’s stock price on 8/19/16 closed at $109.36. Seven weekdays earlier, on 8/11 /16, it closed at $107.93. If you had bought 100 shares of Apple stock on 8/11/16 at $107.93 and sold them on 8/19/16 at $109.36, you would have earned $143 before taxes , which is a 1.32% rate of return. The c alc ulation is (109.36 -107.93)/107.93 x 100 which equals 1.32% .  Apple’s stock price closed on 8/19/2013 at $72.53. The three -year rate of return is 50.77%. To Download Financial Statement Data  Select the Company Financials tab to retrieve financial statement data .  Balance Sheet data will appear , and it defaults to Annual .  Five years’ worth of data will appear , and you can change to 3 years by selecting that option to the right of the Annuals/Balance Sheet above the Balance Sheet data .  Choose Refresh at the end of the next row .  Choose Download nea r the top right of the screen .  Save the Excel file to your computer .  Change Balance Sheet to Income Statement and then Cash Flow to get your other financial statements . To Find a Competitor  Click on the Competitors tab .  Select Public Global to the right o f Competitor at the top of the list of companies .  Click on company nam e to review the Business Summary to confirm that this is the company you are interested in .  Review Sector and Industry listed at the top and determine if you want to use this competitor for your competitive analysis . To Find Industry Data  Click on the Competitors tab .  Select Public Global to the right of Competitor at the top of the list of companies .  Choose at least fiv e competitors .  Click on each company na me to review the Business Summary to confirm that this is the company you are interested in .  Review Sector and Industry listed at the top and determine if you want to use this competitor for your industry analysis .  De termine what financial indicators you would like to compare and collect the needed data from the company financial sta tements for your ratio or Free Cash Flow (FCF) calculations .  Average your calculated results to get an industry average (for example, add the five company FCF ’s together and then divide by five) . Please post any questions to y our course’s General Questions d iscussion topic .