Comparing financials
to your industry or a competitor
Keep it simple, look at fundamental measures: sales revenue, gross sales
margin, net profit margin, capital expenditures, tax rates and the cost
of capital.
Restated: how much do you bring in, how efficient are you at selling,
how efficient are you with all overhead included, what does it
cost to offer more products to customers, are you getting
the best tax break, and how much does it cost you to borrow money or
raise cash through stock offerings?
What is the trend overtime - tell the market place story
Compare your numbers to your industry's averages
over time for these fundamental measures, e.g., sales per square foot (sales
revenue), incremental inventory per new customer (a capital
cost), etc. Plot back as many years as you can, at least five.
The
example below is Bur-Mart versus the industry average on sales per
square foot.
Click show me to see the story.
