75+ Healthy Whole Food Recipes

Introduction 

Whole Food Market Inc. is a company which was incorporated in Austin, Texas in 1978. It is known to be the leading player in the retailing of organic and natural foods. The phenomenon on grocery trading took off at the start of the 12 th century with Pacific Tea and Great Atlantic and other petite players. The grocery stores were small and focused on one concept of retailing food. Piggly Wiggly stores are credited to have introduced self-serving shopping and it was not until 1920 did the chain stores become dominant in Food retailing (Fridson, & Alvarez, 2011). The growth of the grocery stores is accounted by 90% of the Food and beverage sales. Whole Food Market sell processed Foods, organic foods and products and body care products. The company has had numerous accolades with it being ranked the third most reputable company in the retail industry and third strongest brand in America. Whole Foods key competitor; is Sprout Farmers Market. The competitor focuses on selling fresh, organic and natural products at reasonable price. Weis Markets Inc. also is concentrates in grocery retail. 

The company in June 2015 introduced a more affordable version of its stores called 365 By Whole Foods Market. The store uses digital price tags and communication inside the store is through a smartphone app. The product is credited to cut cost and offer efficiency in operations. 

Types of financing used by Whole Foods Market 

The company finances its operation through the use of 

Common stock which is issued to the company owners. The company had 341,268, 311 shares outstanding with no par value as at November 11, 2015. 

Leases which include capital leases for rental of definite land, buildings, and equipment and operating leases which are for rental equipment and facilities. 

Credit Agreement which is a new credit facility the company entered in 2015 that offers an unsecured revolving credit facility in amounts of $500 million. 

The company also finances its activities by use of long-term debt with the aim of providing financial flexibility to pursue strategic growth initiative. 

Financial Ratio Analysis for Whole Food Market 

Financial ratios describe the mathematical comparison of accounts in the financial report or categories. The relationship between the accounts in the financial reports assist interested parties such as investors, creditors and the management to understand how well the enterprise performs and areas that require improvement (Sprout Inc. Finacial reports, 2015,2014 & 2013). 

Current Ratio 

Whole Foods current ratio articulates a decreasing trend. The ratio decreased from 1.8 times to 1.2 times for FY 2013 to FY 2016. The decrease accentuate that the company is finding it difficult to pay the obligations due using the current assets. 

Quick Ratio 

Whole Foods quick ratio decreases from 1.2 times to 0.6 times in FY 2013 to FY 2015. The company is thus finding it difficult to pay the obligations that are due using the quick assets. 

Debt to Equity Ratio 

The ratio heightens an increase from 0.43 to 0.52 in FY 2013 to FY 2015. An increasing debt to equity ratio heightens that more debt is being used to finance the firm compared to finance from the investors in equity. The perspective heightens that the business is becoming more risky due to debt financing. 

Equity Ratio 

The ratio portrays a decreasing trend from 0.7 in FY 2013 to 0.66 in FY 2015. The decrease heightens that the company assets are becoming more financed through debt rather than equity. However, the shareholders still finance a huge proportion of the assets compared to creditors. 

Debt Ratio 

The ratio shows an increase from 0.3 in FY 2013 to 0.34 in FY 2015. The increase highlights that the company will need to sell more assets to pay off the debts (Whole Food Inc. Finacial reports, 2015,2014 & 2013). 

Asset Turnover ratio 

The ratio heightens an increase from 2.4 in FY 2013 to 2.68 in FY 2015. The ratio highlights that for every $1 in assets invested the amounts generated in terms of revenue is increasing hence the company is utilizing the assets efficiently 

Inventory Turnover Ratio 

The ratio for the enterprise is constant over the three financial years. A turnover of 21 times indicate that the company sold the inventory 21 times hence it has an good inventory control 

Profit Margin Ratio 

The company reported a decrease in profit margin ratio from 4% in FY 2013 to 3% in FY 2015. The perspective indicates the firm conversion of sales into profit decreased over the three financial periods. 

Financial Ratio Analysis for the competitors and Industry 

Current Ratio 

Whole Food Market current ratio of 1.2 times was below the average industry ratio of 1.6 times and the company had the least ratio of the other two competitors (Healy & Palepu, 2012). The perspective was the same with Sprout Farmers market which had a ratio of 1.5. Weis Market Inc. was the only company that managed a ratio higher than for the industry. 

Asset Turnover Ratio 

Whole Food market asset turnover of 2.7 times was higher than the industry average of 2.6 times. The company ratio was higher than the ratio of Sprout and Weis who had a ratio of 2.6 times and 2.4 times. The perspective indicates that the company generated more income than the competitors and the industry for every $1 invested (Weis Inc. Finacial reports, 2015,2014 & 2013). 

Inventory Turnover Ratio 

Whole Food Market inventory turnover of 21.1 times was higher than for Sprout and Weis who had a ratio of 16.5 times and 8.8 times respectively. The ratio was also higher than the industry average which was 17.0 times. The perspective indicates it had a better inventory control than for the competitors and the industry. 

Profit Margin Ratio 

Whole Food Market profit margin was 3% which was higher than for Weis Market who had a margin of 1% but lower than for Sprout Company who had a ratio of 4%. The company ratio was the same as for the industry. 

Question D 

Price /Earnings ratio 

Whole Food Market P/E ratio decreases over the three financial periods from 34.1 in FY 2013 to 29.6 in FY 2015. The scenario indicates that the investors may become skeptical about the company performance in the long run period. However, the ratio is still high and investors still commendable in the short term thus indicating the company can anticipate positive performance (Sprout Inc. Finacial reports, 2015,2014 & 2013). 

Equity ratio
	Whole Food	Sprout	Weis	Industry
Total equity	3769	823	872	1821.246
Total assets	5741	1426.364	1235.959	2801.108
Equity ratio	0.65650584	0.576986	0.70532	0.650188

The above table articulates a 0.65 equity ratio that signifies that firms in the industry are sourcing the debt option as an alternative source to finance its assets. This indicates the industry is lowly geared and therefore an attractive investment to potential investors. 

Debt ratio
	Whole Food	Sprout	Weis	Industry
Total debt	1252	230.4	221.9	568.1
Total assets	5741	1426.364	1235.959	2801.108
Debt ratio	0.21808047	0.16153	0.179537	0.202813

The table above on the debt ratio indicates a 0.2 times ratio over the three firms. The perspective accentuated by the fact that the industry current liabilities is increasing for each firm more than the quick assets which indicates that the firms are able to cover its current liabilities using the quick assets by 0.2 times overall. 

Debt to Equity ratio
	Whole Food	Sprout	Weis	Industry
Total debt	1252	230.4	221.9	568.1
Shareholders’ Equity	3769	823	872	1821.246
Debt to Equity ratio	0.3321836	0.279954	0.254546	0.311929

The industry had a debt to equity ratio of 0.3 for the FY 2015 which means that for every one dollar that each investor has in the each firm; the creditor contributes USD 0.3 thus signifying the industry is highly geared. 

Weis Inc.
Price/Earnings Ratio		Market Value per Share
		Earnings Per Share
		2015	2014	2013
Price/Earnings Ratio		52.59	49.25	46.32
		2.41	3.49	3.98
P/E		21.82158	14.11175	11.63819

Weis Inc. for the FY2015 had a Price/Earnings Ratio of 2.41 which is higher than that of the previous years, 14.11 and 11.68 respectively (Romic, 2011). Basing on the Price/Earnings Ratio for this company, there is a positive correlation with the financial statement which demonstrates that the company is stable. Weis Market Inc. P/E ratio rapidly decreases over the three financial periods from a high of 102.7 in FY 2013 to 22.5 in FY 2015. The scenario indicates that investors have lost confidence in the company performance which had a net profit margin of 1%. The investors are not willing to pay highly for the company stocks 

References 

Fridson, M. S., & Alvarez, F. (2011). Financial statement analysis: a practitioner's guide (Vol. 597). John Wiley & Sons. 

Healy, P., & Palepu, K. (2012). Business Analysis Valuation: Using Financial Statements. Cengage Learning. 

Romic, L. (2011). Financial Statement Analysis. International Journal of Management Cases. 

Sprout Inc. Finacial reports. (2015,2014 & 2013). Retrieved from http://investors.sprouts.com/Cache/1500082712.PDF?O=PDF&T=&Y=&D=&FID=1500082712&iid=4096386 

Weis Inc. Finacial reports. (2015,2014 & 2013). Retrieved from https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/105418/000010541816000069/wmk10k2015_10k.htm 

Whole Food Inc. Finacial reports. (2015,2014 & 2013). Retrieved from http://s21.q4cdn.com/118642233/files/doc_financials/2015/Annual/2015-WFM-Annual-Report.pdf