Yes, this is a homework question - i've had the month from hell and my masters in is includes 2 business classes [blah - i'm a developer, analyst, mathematician lol not a pedantic rote repetitive business major lol]. my 2 yr old is driving me nuts - broke 8 keys off my laptop earlier but i had a spare dead laptop around and cannibilized it.
anyhow i'm not expecting the answer though that would be nice - at the very least a pointer to a site where i could *easily* obtain an average P/E for the plastics mfg industry as well as an average P/E for the food retail industry.
i need to go take 10 tylenol ... i'll check back in 30 mins for any assistance.
peace & thanks in advance,
x
2007-10-07 13:46:13 · 3 answers · asked by xkey 3 in Business & Finance ➔ Investing
See if this link will open for you, it may be tied to an identity, http://www.marketwatch.com/tools/industry/focus.asp?bcind_ind=2723&bcind_sid=171518
Similar can be found at Businessweek.com, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, etc.
In this case the industry is Containers & Packaging under a chain of Industrials > Industrial Goods & Services > General Industrials. Notice that the aggregate P/E for Containers and Packaging is 18.19. However, you have to scrutinize the component list to ferret out paper and such. Then you have to go to plastics makers elsewhere, Toyota for instance has a big project where they are producing "greener" plastics for car dashes as a marketing ploy. http://www.marketwatch.com/tools/industry/componentlist.asp?bcind_ind=2723&bcind_period=3mo
Of course, if you find several that don't fit, you have to determine their contribution (as well as check internal figures for those remaining. Fortunately, the component list in this case is only 11 deep.
As for the food retailers, I would start by plugging in something like MCD (McDonalds), then check for an industry comparison, which in this case is restaurants and bars, then look for industry components.
http://online.wsj.com/quotes/main.html?type=usstock+usfund&symbol_or_name=mcd&sym_name_switch=symbol&x=11&y=4
http://online.wsj.com/quotes/industry_comparison.html?mod=2_0464&symbol=mcd&news-symbol=MCD
http://online.wsj.com/public/npage/industry_stocks.html?rnd=8144&bcind_ind=5757&bc_ind_sid=171588
You've still got a ton of work ahead, but may I suggest that you establish a representative sampling and build your data from that? Good luck.
2007-10-07 14:58:26 · answer #1 · answered by Rabbit 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Pick a plastic manufacturing company and look 'em up on Yahoo!Finance: Here, for instance, is the quote info for 3M:
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=MMM
...who have their fingers in a LOT of pies, including plastics.
And here are their major competitors:
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/co?s=MMM
...P/E's all hovering around 15, kind of where you'd expect for a "mature" industry.
You can do the same for the food retail industry...look up Tyson, for instance:
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=tsn&d=t
And use the Yahoo!Finance "competitors" button to discover that the P/E's vary so wildly that an "average" P/E is pretty much meaningless!
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/co?s=TSN
P.S. PLEASE don't take ten tylenol all at once, that is so not good for you!
Good luck!
2007-10-07 14:34:55 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Industry Statistics
Valuation Ratios
P/E (ttm) 14.16
P/Sales (ttm) 1.31
P/Book (mrq) 3.33
P/Cash Flow (mrq) 9.03
2007-10-07 15:11:56 · answer #3 · answered by jeff410 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋