The Home Depot Inc. reported the following selected information for the last five years (in U.S. millions, except earnings per share):

Instructions
(a) Calculate Home Depot's return on common shareholders' equity (for this calculation, note that the company has no preferred shares), return on assets, and profit margin ratios before and after discontinued operations for each of the last five years.
(b) Evaluate Home Depot's profitability over the last five years before and after discontinued operations.
(c) Which analysis-before or after discontinued operations-is more relevant to investors? Explain.

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2011 2007 Net sales Average common shareholders' equity Average total assets $67,997 $66,176 $71,288 $77,349 $79,022 19,141 18,58517,746 21,372 25,970 40,501 41,020 24,244 48,294 48,334 Profit from continuing operations Net loss (gain) from discontinued operations Profit 3,338 3,338 2.01 2,620 2,661 1.55 2,312 (52) 4,210 185 5,266 495 5,761 Earnings per share from continuing operations Total earnings per 2.28 2.38 1.37 2.01 2.80