Financial information for American Eagle is presented in Appendix A at the end of the book, and financial information for Buckle is presented in Appendix B at the end of the book.

Required:
1. Which company carries a greater inventory balance as a percentage of total assets?
2. Which company has a higher inventory turnover ratio and therefore lower average days in inventory?
3. Which company’s operations are more profitable using the gross profit ratio?
4. Considering the companies’ ratio of operating expenses to net sales, does your answer to requirement 3 change? Explain.