Analysis of Cash Flow and Operating Activities - Assignment Example

of Co Operating Cash Flows Investing Financing Increase /decrease Apple Inc1 37,529,000 (40,419,000 444,000 446,000) Wal Mart2 24,255,000 (16,609,000) (8,458,000) (845,000) 3M35,284,000 (2,718,000)(3,675,000) (1,158,000) Alcoa Inc42,193,000 (1,852,000) 62,000396,000 Amazon.com53,903,000 (1,930,000) (482,000) 1,492,000 DescriptionAppleWal Mart3MAlcoaAmazonOperating Cash Flows37,529,00024,255,000 5,284,000 2,193,000 3,903,00018,595,000 23,643,0005,174,0002,261,0003,495,000 10,159,00026,249,0004,941,000 1,365,000 3,293,000 Investing(40,419,000) (16,609,000) (2,718,000)(1,852,000) (1,930,000) (13,854,000) (12,193,000) (2,626,000)(1,272,000) (3,360,000)(17,434,000)(11,620,000)(1,732,000)(721,000)(2,337,000)Financing1,444,000 (8,458,000)(3,675,000) 62,000(482,000) 1,257,000 (8,458,000)(2,184,000)(952,000) 181,000 663,000 (12,028,000) (2,014,000)37,000(280,000)Combine(2,060,000)(725,000)370,0001,177,0002,500,000The above analysis suggests that 3 companies were able to earn the operating cash flows sufficient enough to actually cover their investing and financing activities.

2 firms, however, had to use cash from their financing activities to finance their operating and investing activities. This may, however, be due to the typical characteristics of the industry and higher R&D requirements, which may be industry specific (Peterson & Fabozzi, 2012). Apart from this, mature companies have stable cash flows whereas the firms such as Apple, which are experiencing the highest levels of growth, may experience a different level of cash flows due to their very nature of business.

One of the key differences between these companies is the nature of the stage of their life cycle and how their cash flows behave accordingly. For some companies, cash flows remained in the same ranges whereas for firms such as Apple, there is a steep increase in operating cash flows.ReferencesPeterson, P. P., & Fabozzi, F. (2012). Analysis of financial statements. New York: John Wiley & Sons.