Problem $2$

After graduating from college in May $2018,$ Ryan Crews started his career in finance at W&T Corporation $($a

hypothetical company$),$ a small$-$ to medium$-$sized warehouse distributor in Nashville, Tennessee. The company

was founded by David Winston and Colin Tabor in $2005,$ after they had worked together in management at

Walmart. Although Crews had an offer from Sam's Club, he became excited about the opportunity with W&T$.$

For W&T$,2017$ turned out to be a good financial year. But in $2018,$ the company experienced a $5\mathrm{.}3$ percent

sales reduction, where sales declined from $$5\mathrm{.}7$ million to $$5\mathrm{.}4$ million. The downturn then led to other financial

problems, including a $50$ percent reduction in the company's stock price. The share price went from $$36$ per

share at the end of $2017$ to $$18$ per share at the end of $2018!$

David Winston and Colin Tabor want to understand what may have happened.

Financial information for W&T for both years is shown below, where all the numbers, except for per$-$share data,

are shown in thousands.

a$.$ Using what you have learned in Chapters $3$ and $4,$ prepare a financial analysis of $W$&$T,$ comparing the

firm's financial performance between the two years.

b$.$ What conclusions can you make from your analysis?

c$.$ What recommendations would you make to management?

d$.$ Choose two real$-$world warehouse companies and investigate them by comparing their financial

performance and industry trends.

W&T Corporation Income Statement $($in thousands$)$

W&T Corporation Balance Sheet