Solved: Daimler and Tesla Financial Analysis

Daimler   and Tesla are today classified as two of the major players in the automotive    industry.   Your   assignment is to carry out a detailed   comparison between these two companies as specified below. The following are the links to the mentioned   company's   annual reports.  These reports include all the required information to complete the tasks

1. Daimler (https://www.daimler.com/downloads/en/)

2. Tesla (http://ir.tesla.com/financial-information/quarterly-results) Specifically, you have been asked to undertake the following:

1. Critically   compare   and  contrast   the  financial   performance   and  financial position   of the  two  listed  companies   (Daimler  and  Tesla)  over  the  last  FOUR years,   (2015  -   2018).   This   should   be done   by using  the  respective   tools including   ratio  analysis,   together   with  vertical   and  horizontal   analysis.   The purpose   of  this  task  is  to  identify  their  financial   strengths   and  weaknesses together    with   a  conclusion    highlighting    the   strongest    company    based   on financial  grounds.

2. Critically  analyse  the cash position  of both companies  over the same  period of time,  and write a brief report commenting  on your findings.

• Your  reports  and briefing  paper should  be clearly  and logically  structured in whatever   format  appears   to  be  the  most  suitable  for  supporting   the analysis,  arguments,  conclusions   and recommendations.   Locate  the ratio calculations   in an appendix  and only present  the actual  ratios  in the body of the report.

• Key points  of the comparative   analysis  may  be summarised   as a bulleted list to optimise  the use of your words.

• Tables,  graphs  and charts  are a convenient  way of organising  your findings and  presenting  data.   They  also  make  it easier  for the  end  user  of your report (and  the  marker)   to  understand   your  findings   and  so  you  are recommended   to use visual  aids where  appropriate.

•     The submission  of your work  assessment   should  be organised  and clearly structured.

•    Maximum  word  length  allowed  is 4000  words,  excluding  words  in Charts

& Tables  and in the Appendixes   section  of your report.

•     Student  is required  to  submit  a type-written   document   in Microsoft  Word format  with Times  New Roman  font type, size 12 and line spacing  1.5.

•    This assignment  is worth  100% of the final assessment  of the module.

•     Indicate  any  sources  of  information   and  literature  review  by  including  all the necessary     citations      and     references     adopting     the     Harvard Referencing System.

•                 Students  who  have been found  to have committed  acts of  Plagiarism are  automatically    considered    to  have  failed   the  entire    module.   If found  to  have  breached  the  regulation  for the second  time,   you will be asked  to leave the course.

•          Plagiarism   involves   taking   someone   else's   words,   thoughts,    ideas   or essays  from  online  essay  banks  and trying  to pass them  off as your  own. It is a form of cheating  which  is taken  very seriously.

4.  Marking  Scheme:

Evaluation  of the financial  performance  and financial  position  of Daimler  and Tesla.

Evaluation  of Cashflow  position  of both companies.

Presentation  skills.

Upon  successful  completion  of this module  the student  will be able to:

1. Demonstrate   a  critical   awareness,   comprehension    and  synthesis   of  a business  and its future  prospects.

2.  Identify,   organise,   analyse   and  critically   evaluate   financial   information, articulate                    conclusions     and    form    recommendations,      based    on    a disciplined,   thoughtful   and well-structured   appraisal  of the  evidence  and founded  on clear theoretical  underpinnings.

3. Structure    and   communicate    ideas   based   on   an   understanding    and appreciation of  the  practical   application   of  key  issues   and  theories   in corporate  financial  management.

4.  Display   an   ability   to   evaluate    complex    business    issues,   synthesise concepts                   and  to  formulate    and   propose   advice   based   on  informed judgement.

5. Articulate   conclusions   and  make  recommendations,    in  an  independent manner,  which  are based on informed  analysis  and critical  appraisal.

Plagiarism   is passing  off the work  of others  as your  own. This  constitutes   academic theft  and is a serious  matter that is penalized  in assignment  marking.

Plagiarism   is the submission   of an item  of assessment   containing  elements  of work produced   by another  person(s)   in such  a way  that  it could  be  assumed   to  be the student's  own work.  Examples  of plagiarism  are:

•     The     verbatim     copying     of    another     person's     work     without acknowledgement

•     The   close   paraphrasing     of   another    person's    work   by   simply changing  a few   words  or altering  the order  of presentation   without acknowledgement

•              The  unacknowledged    quotation   of  phrases  from  another   person's work  and/or  the  presentation   of another  person's   idea(s)  as one's own.

•     It also  includes  self-plagiarism'    (which  occurs  where,  for example, you  submit  work  that  you  have  presented   for  assessment   on  a previous     occasion).   And  the  submission   of  material   from  'essay banks'  (even if the authors  of such material  appear  to be giving  you permission  to use it in this way)

Copying  or close  paraphrasing   with occasional   acknowledgement    of the source  may also  be deemed  to be plagiarism  is the  absence  of quotation  marks  implies  that the phraseology   is the student's  own.

Plagiarised   work  may belong  to another  student  or be from  a published  source  such as a book,  report, journal  or material  available  on the internet.

The  structure   of  a  citation   under  the  Harvard   referencing   system   is  the  author's surname,  year of publication,  and page number  or range,  in parentheses,    as follows:

•      The page number  or page  range  is omitted  if the entire  work is cited.

The  author's  surname   is omitted  if it appears  in the  text.  Thus  we may say: "Jones  (2001)  revolutionized  the field of trauma  surgery."

•       Two  or three  authors  are  cited  using  "and"  or  "&":  (Deane,  Smith, and Jones,  1991) or (Deane,  Smith  & Jones,  1991). More than three authors  are cited using et al. (Deane  et al. 1992).

•       An  unknown  date  is cited  as no date  (Deane  n.d.).  A  reference  to a reprint  is cited  with  the  original  publication   date  in  square  brackets

(Marx [1867]  1967, p. 90).

•       If an author  published  two  books  in 2005,  the year  of the first  (in the alphabetic  order  of the references)   is cited  and  referenced   as 2005a, the second  as 2005b.

•       A citation  is placed  wherever  appropriate   in or after the sentence.  If it is  at  the  end  of  a  sentence,   it  is  placed  before  the  period,   but  a citation  for an entire  block quote  immediately  follows  the period  at the end of the block since the citation  is not an actual  part of the quotation itself.

•       Complete   citations   are  provided   in  alphabetical   order   in  a  section following  the    text,    usually    designated     as    "Works     cited"    or "References".   The difference  between  a "works  cited"  or "references" list and  a bibliography   is that  a bibliography   may  include  works  not directly  cited in the text.

•      All citations  are in the same font as the main text. Examples  of book references  are:

•    Smith,  J.  (2005a).   Dutch  Citing  Practices.   The  Hague:  Holland

Research  Foundation.

•    Smith,   J.  (2005b).   Harvard   Referencing.    London:   Jolly   Good

Publishing.

In giving  the  city  of  publication,   an  internationally   well-known   city  (such  as  London, The   Hague,   or   New   York)   is  referenced    as  the   city   alone.   If  the   city   is  not internationally   well known,  the country  (or state and country  if in the U.S.) are given.

Examples  of journal  references  are:

•    Smith,  John  Maynard.  "The  origin  of altruism,"  Nature  393,  1998, pp.639-40.

•     Bowcott,   Owen.   "Street   Protest",   The  Guardian,   October   18,  2005, accessed  February  7, 2006.