Study questions associated with a forecasting orientation:

$1.$ How would you describe Whole Foods$$ strategy?

$2.$ Prepare a competitor analysis. How would you define Whole Foods$$ industry? Who

are Whole Foods$$ competitors?

$3.$ How attractive is Whole Foods$$ current market position? Is it sustainable?

$4.$ What do the financial ratios in Exhibit $4$ tell you about the past operating

performance of Whole Foods? How informative are the historical ratios for Whole

Foods$$ prospective performance?

$5.$ Examine Exhibit $7$ in detail. How important are each of the underlying financial

assumptions in the ROA forecast? What assumptions $($i$.$e$.,$ margins, asset turnover,

growth$)$ play the biggest role in driving the anticipated improvements in ROA?

$6.$ Do you agree with the existing financial assumptions in the Deutsche Bank

forecast? If so$,$ why? If not, what adjustments would you make to the model? Be

prepared to defend the basis of your forecast for Whole Foods$$ performance