Research Paper on:
Financial Analysis of Home Depot

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
be useful. In looking at Home Depot the background and operations of the company will be considered in conjunction with the financial statements. Financial statements are a useful tool,  they give a snap shot of the company at a single point in time. However, to place them into context other consideration need to be included, such as more recent  actions. In the case of Home Depot the 2001 annual accounts were put together in February 2002, meaning that they are out of date already. In looking at these and  putting them into an historical context with former results trends may also be useful tools to consider. Home Depot were founded in 1978, since that time they have grown  to the worlds largest Do it yourself (DIY) chain. Starting in Atlanta Georgia there are now branches of Home Depot or one of its subsidiary brand names, all over the  US as well as in seven different Canadian provinces, Puerto Rico and Mexico (Home Depot, 2002). Overall, the company has a total 1473 stores, Home Depot store made up  1,321 of this total with EXPO Design centres accounting for 52, there is also 1 Floor Store, and HD Landscape Supplies centres are 3 in number (Home Depot, 2002).  The target market of the stores are the do it yourself market, as well as professional s in the field of constriction, home improvement and home maintenance (Home Depot.,  2002). The wide range of stock is reflected in an average store size of between 40,000 square feet to 50,000 square feet in the US. The newer stores are larger  starting with sizes from 114,000 square feet. The new stores appear to be paying of as the sales in terms of net sales has increased by 17% in 2001 on