Stock Investor Pro Questions

a. Examine the Electric Services Industry (SIC 491x). Compare the average year-to-year growth in revenues (sales) for this industry over the entire seven-year period with the growth in revenue of the S&P 500 index. Does the Electric Services Industry appear to be a mature industry?
b. Identify what appears to be the growth companies in the Electric Services Industry. Does there appear to be any difference between the average dividend yield of the companies identified as growth companies versus the average dividend yields of the “nongrowth” companies in the industry?

In Chapter 6 a trend analysis of profitability (as measured by the return on equity) and financial leverage (as measured by the debt-to-equity ratio) was performed on two industries. Perform a similar analysis on the Computer and Office Equipment industry (SIC 357x) and the Grocery Store industry (SIC 541x). Limit your analysis to those firms in each industry with revenues exceeding $5 billion.

The Apparel industry (SIC 23xx) is generally considered to be a cyclical industry. Compare the average year-to-year percentage change in revenue over the seven years of available data for those companies in this industry with total revenues for the last year (Sales Y1) exceeding $200 million to the year-to-year percentage change in GDP (Figure 5–8). Can you see any relationship?