Three major segments of the transportation industry are motor carriers such as YRC Worldwide, railroads such as Union Pacific, and transportation logistics services such as C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc. Recent financial statement information for these three companies follows (in thousands):
YRC Union Pacific C.H. Robinson
Sales........................$4,832,400..............$21,813,000...............$13,476,084
Average total assets.......1,939,800................53,486,000...................3,199,348
a. Determine the asset turnover for all three companies. Round to one decimal place.
b. Assume that the asset turnover for each company represents its respective industry segment. Interpret the differences in the asset turnover in terms of the operating characteristics of each of the respective segments.